Your Dental Hygienist’s Role in an Anti-Aging Strategy

When we think of anti-aging we automatically think of the face. Minimize wrinkles, tighten and plump up the skin to look younger. What we don’t often consider is the “age” of our cardiovascular system, our brain health and the inflammation that essentially makes us years older than we actually are.

Some of the obvious preventive actions for anti-aging are clean and healthy diet choices, regular exercise and activity, lower your stress levels and get your rest; all of these are based on lifestyle choices. Where does dental and oral health fit in?

Our mouths are a portal to our bodies. Dental professionals realize the impact of an unhealthy mouth on the overall health and wellness of an individual. What we are realizing more and more is the impact of chronic inflammation and the mouth’s role in initiating or exacerbating health conditions like cardiovascular disease and dementia. Active periodontal disease (gingivitis with progressing bone loss) is like a smoldering fire that can go undetected without proper professional detection.

Numerous studies and research show the relationship between inflammation in the mouth, feeding the fire in the blood stream by introduction of harmful microbes that originate in the mouth and enter the vascular highway in our bodies. Specific microbes such as p.gingivalis have been found in the brain tissue of individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The same pathogenic microbes have been found to cause havoc in the bloodstream by increasing the inflammatory factors which may initiate cardiovascular disease. Biomarkers such as C-Reactive proteins are used in many studies to indicate inflammation and disease associations. Microbes in the mouth have the ability to increase levels of C-Reactive protein found in the blood.

So how does your Dental Hygienist play a role in an anti-aging strategy?

1. Look in the mouth. A dental hygienist knows how to diagnose disease and inflammation in the gums and mouth tissues that would indicate some bad acting microbes are lurking.
2. A dental hygienist has access to specific testing that will indicate EXACTLY which pathogens are at play.
3. If you are identified as being at risk, with coaching and treatment, a dental hygienist can guide you toward improvements that will directly affect the harmful bacteria in the mouth. Reduce your risk by eliminating the microbes that may be responsible for causing inflammation elsewhere in the body.
4. A dental hygienist is a key player in addressing the mouth as a contributor to the body’s inflammation and speeding up the aging process.

Do you have an anti-aging strategy? Does it include the input of a preventive dental practitioner like a dental hygienist? Does he or she have a good understanding of the oral-systemic connection? Consult your dental provider today and add their input to your anti-aging strategy!

https://www.discoverymedicine.com/Nancy-S-Jenny/2012/06/25/inflammation-in-aging-cause-effect-or-both/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2018.00012/full

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11910-013-0384-xm

By Colette Murray RDH