Health gem

If you do one thing this week . . . visit the dentist, for your heart

IT’S ONE of those surprising associations: looking after your teeth and gums could help protect your heart. Quite why is still being investigated, but studies suggest that inflamed, bleeding gums could let mouth bacteria into the bloodstream – and this isn’t always good news.

Recent findings from Taiwan have filled in the association even more. The study followed up 10,887 people aged 50 or over who had undergone at least one tooth scaling in the year 2000 and a 10,989-strong group of “non-exposed” who did not. “Tooth scaling was associated with a decreased risk of myocardial infarction and stroke,” they state in the American Journal of Medicine. It’s yet another prompt to look after your pearly whites and the gums they live in.