Poor dental hygiene may increase risk of covid

Research shows that people with poor oral health may end up with more severe symptoms if they catch the coronavirus. COVID patients who also have gum disease are 3.5 times more likely to be admitted to intensive care than those without. They are 4.5 times more likely to need to be put on a ventilator and nine times more likely to die from COVID.

This may sound shocking, but the fact that there is a link between oral health and COVID is less surprising considering the link between oral hygiene and other diseases. Poor oral hygiene has been linked to making many other diseases worse. This mainly happens when poor hygiene is maintained for a long time, leading to dysbiosis – where the bacteria in the mouth change from a peaceful state to an aggressive one.

Once mouth bacteria multiply, they can cause gum disease, chewing through the tissues of the mouth and entering the bloodstream. And once there, bacteria can flow around the body and settle in various organs, increasing the level of inflammation and contributing to a variety of specific and chronic conditions over time.

Indeed, if this happens, there is hardly any part of the body that cannot potentially be affected. Poor oral health can have an effect on the heart, raise blood pressure and make diabetes worse by raising blood sugar levels. It has also been linked to premature birth, arthritis, kidney diseases, respiratory disease and even some neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

So is the same thing happening with COVID?

Possibly. Compared to people with mild or moderate symptoms, people with severe COVID have elevated levels of a specific inflammatory marker (called CRP). Some people with severe COVID also suffer what’s called a “cytokine storm,” where the immune system rushes to fight off the virus and damage the body’s own tissues at the same time.

Research shows that even people with poor oral health sometimes have elevated levels of CRP and cytokines – which suggests that gum disease can trigger the same enthusiastic immune response as COVID (though to a lesser extent). till).

So if two diseases are encountered at the same time, in which both the coronavirus and invasive mouth bacteria circulate in the blood, it is possible that they may trigger an accompanying immune response to damage the body’s own tissues, causing There could be worse consequences for people.

However, we currently understand little about how exactly oral hygiene and COVID interact, and it may be that they are combining in other ways to make the disease worse.

For example, a major problem with COVID and other respiratory viral diseases is bacterial superinfection. These are areas where those directly infected with the virus – such as the lungs and airways – are simultaneously infected with the bacteria.

Bacterial superinfections are common in people who have COVID, and they are significantly more common in people with severe illness. It is not known exactly what effect they have, but it is reasonable to assume that these concurrent infections increase the risk of serious illness and death.

During pandemics, studies have shown that a large proportion of people who died from COVID – in some cases, 50% – were also infected with the bacteria at the same time.

If someone has poor oral hygiene, it can increase the risk of superinfection. Poor oral hygiene means more aggressive bacteria in the mouth, which can be easily inhaled into the airways and lungs, to initiate superinfection.

On top of this, poor oral health can also help the coronavirus to infect the body. Enzymes from the bacteria that cause gum disease can alter the surface of the mouth and respiratory tract, making it easier for other microbes – such as coronaviruses – to adhere to these surfaces and grow there.

With the passage of time it will become clear how oral health affects the progression of COVID. For some people, all of these mechanisms may be running at the same time.

But in the meantime, there is enough evidence to consider poor oral hygiene in people who have COVID – and especially in people who already suffer from conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease, as these may The causes of poor oral health in and of itself are risk factors for COVID.

Hence maintaining proper oral hygiene is more important than ever. This means brushing with fluoridated toothpaste for at least two minutes twice a day and visiting the dentist regularly. Hopefully you won’t catch the coronavirus, but if you do, good oral health and taking care of your mouth can significantly reduce your risk of developing serious symptoms. (Conversation)