What causes gum disease?

Do you think you have gum disease?

Gum disease is more than skin deep. We have found that a clean mouth is not always a healthy mouth, and an unhealthy mouth almost always paves the way for disease elsewhere in the body. In fact, over 90% of people with dementia have oral spirochete bacteria in their brains!

When we look at the causes of gum disease, we consider two key factors:

👉The Host (you): What things could make it difficult for your body to fight bad bugs? What things could weaken your body and make it a more welcoming home for bad bugs? Diabetes, mouth breathing and sleep apnea, poor diet or nutrition, dehydration, and stress can all make you more susceptible to infection.
👉The Ecosystem (the bugs): What bugs currently inhabit your mouth, and are they in balance? If not, why are they imbalanced? Could you be routinely swapping spit with someone (human or pet!) who is infected with bad bugs, or sipping from an infrequently cleaned water bottle? We don’t know unless we test your saliva! We use a microscope and salivary testing to learn about what bugs make up your oral ecosystem.

An imbalanced ecosystem (or Dysbiosis) in a weak host can create a “leaky mouth,” in which microbes leak through the oral tissues into your bloodstream, spreading to the rest of the body - the brain, heart, gut. The longer this dysbiosis exists, the harder it will be to obtain stability and balance.

While symptoms such as bleeding, bone loss, and loosening of teeth provide us with clues that you have gum disease, we have found that treating those symptoms without addressing the underlying host and ecosystem is not a long-lasting solution, and eventually, the symptoms return. We aim to restore balance to your oral microbiome and support your body's natural healing processes.

Follow us to learn more about our Gum Health Protocols.