How your mouth could be killing your heart | Hacker News Reader

How your mouth could be killing your heart

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44 pointsStratoscope6 comments

I'm not refuting that good dental hygiene is important, but I had an interesting experience at the dentist a few weeks ago, which I've been trying to understand, and this article hints at my issue with current dentistry.

They discuss oral bacteria, but never name the bacteria that is responsible for the decay, if it is in fact decay. They don't talk about good and bad bacteria. The oral surgeon I went to see said "you've got gum disease", and he said this with 100% confidence based on what he suggested was that my gums were "detaching from" my wisdom teeth, and therefore my wisdom teeth had to be removed before any more damage was done.

A different dentist said the same thing to me 17 years ago. I've got 5mm pockets and if we don't take out those teeth, it will get worse. It hasn't gotten worse, nobody has said anything about what sort of bacteria this is. How do they know that this is not the natural position of my gums on those teeth.

When we discuss bacteria in any other part of the body, don't we name that bacteria? Don't we know the good from the bad and test for these things?

The dentist and surgeon's concerns were that the gums would completely separate from the tooth. So I told them...if you pull the teeth out, they're definitely going to be separated!

I'm hopeful that in the next decade we will test for the bacterial balance, or types and have x-biotics or similar methods to adjust the bacteria, not just pull out teeth. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about it.

It's totally possible to do a test and see which bacteria are causing havoc in your mouth, and then target them specifically with antibiotics and such. Granted you'll have to pay good money for it even here in the EU, but I'm considering getting it done too because like you said the other option is completely untargeted mechanical treatment..

probably Streptococcus mitis

but if they don't test for it, can we just assume that that is what formed the pocket?

endocarditis is no joke.

Yep. I had endocarditis a couple of years ago. No warning, just slightly lowered energy levels, then a sudden bout of gout. After going to the doctor I got some meds for the gout but the pain increased and progressed to a lung infection. That got worse for a couple of days then suddenly oral thrush. Big "Oh no" energy, so I drove to the emergency room. I walked in, taking four stops along the way to catch my breath on a 100m walk, then once in the ER I had a doctor listen to my left lung, expression of concern, right lung, deepenitg concern, then worst heart, definite oh shit moment.

I had Streptococcus Sanguinus, a typical oral bacteria, in my Aortic valve. It has eaten the valve until it was back flowing by 75%, so I needed four pumps to match one normal pump.

They said the source was probably biting my cheek, ADHD comes with lots of benefits, so yeah, not a virulent or particularly dangerous bacteria, just in the wrong place. Got the valve replaced, now I am on Warfarin for the rest of my life, but wow, I am glad to be in Australia, the only money I spent was on snacks. I was flown to and from hospital, 6 weeks in hospital, surgery with 11 staff, and not a single solitary cent spent.

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