Staying healthy (19)
- Secondhand smoke: Avoid dangers in the air
- Colon cancer screening: Weighing the options
- Medical history: Compiling your medical family tree
- see all in Staying healthy
Dental care (6)
- Oral health: Brush up on dental care basics
- Oral health: A window to your overall health
- Cavities/tooth decay
- see all in Dental care
Skin care (12)
- Sunless tanning: A safe alternative to sunbathing
- Tattoos: Understand risks and precautions
- Piercings: How to prevent complications
- see all in Skin care
Nail care (1)
- Nails: How to keep your fingernails healthy and strong
Eye care (8)
- LASIK surgery: Is it right for you?
- Contact lenses: What to know before you buy
- Farsightedness
- see all in Eye care
Sleep (6)
- OTC sleep aids and supplements: What's best and safe?
- 10 tips for better sleep
- Sleepwalking
- see all in Sleep
Mental health (11)
- Self-esteem: Boost your self-image with these 5 steps
- Self-esteem check: Too low, too high or just right?
- Resilience: Build skills to endure hardship
- see all in Mental health
Healthy relationships (8)
- Forgiveness: Letting go of grudges and bitterness
- Domestic violence against men: Know the signs, seek help
- Domestic violence against women: Recognize patterns, seek help
- see all in Healthy relationships
Healthy at work (11)
- Office exercise: How to burn calories at work
- Office stretches: How-to video collection
- Sick leave: Smooth the transition back to work
- see all in Healthy at work
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Oral health: A window to your overall health
Gum disease can let bacteria enter your bloodstream and wreak havoc elsewhere in your body. Or sometimes, signs of a disease may first show up in your mouth.
By Mayo Clinic staffAlthough the eyes may be the window to the soul, your mouth is a window to your body's health. The state of your oral health can offer lots of clues about your overall health. Oral health and overall health are more connected than you might realize.
Your oral health is connected to many other health conditions beyond your mouth. Sometimes the first sign of a disease shows up in your mouth. In other cases, infections in your mouth, such as gum disease, can cause problems in other areas of your body. Learn more about this intimate connection between oral health and overall health.
The connection between oral health and overall health
Your mouth is normally teeming with bacteria. Usually you can keep these bacteria under control with good oral health care, such as daily brushing and flossing. Saliva also is a key defense against bacteria and viruses. It contains enzymes that destroy bacteria in different ways. But harmful bacteria can sometimes grow out of control and lead to periodontitis, a serious gum infection.
When your gums are healthy, bacteria in your mouth usually don't enter your bloodstream. However, gum disease may provide bacteria a port of entry into your bloodstream. Sometimes invasive dental treatments also can allow bacteria to enter your bloodstream. And medications or treatments that reduce saliva flow or disrupt the normal balance of bacteria in your mouth also may lead to oral changes, making it easier for bacteria to enter your bloodstream. Some researchers believe that these bacteria and inflammation from your mouth are linked to other health problems in the rest of your body.
Next page(1 of 2)
- Oral-systemic health (your oral health and overall health). American Dental Association. http://www.ada.org/public/topics/oralsystemic.asp. Accessed Dec. 6, 2008.
- American Dental Association. Healthy mouth, healthy body. Journal of the American Dental Association. 2006;137:536.
- Michalowicz BS, et al. Treatment of periodontal disease and the risk of preterm birth. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2006;355:1885.
- Loesche W. Dental caries and periodontitis: Contrasting two infections that have medical implications. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. 2007;21:471.
- Links between oral and general health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/OralHealth/publications/factsheets/sgr2000_fs4.htm. Accessed Dec. 13, 2008.
- Casamassimo PS. Oral and systemic health. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Krall KE. Bone health and oral health. The Journal of the American Dental Association. 2007;138:616.
- Wilder RS, et al. Gingivitis and periodontitis in adults: Classification and dental treatment. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
