By Dr. Azim Malik Specialist Periodontist and Implant Surgeon

ORAL HEALTH: A REFLECTION OF SYSTEMIC HEALTH

Your mouth is a window to your body.

A lot of things can be seen in the mouth, which are indicative of other systemic diseases.

Exploring links between cardiovascular disease and periodontitis

So, for instance, there is a link between cardiovascular disease, which includes stroke, and patients with periodontitis.

And its said those that have cardiovascular disease also tend to have periodontitis – or that it's a contributing factor.

Many studies have shown these links.

With that being said, it's very important to stress these are very loose correlations so there's no need for patients to worry.

Periodontitis and skin conditions

There's also a link between periodontitis and some skin conditions.

For instance, Behçet's disease or lichen planus.

Lichen planus is a skin condition you can see in the mouth.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORAL HEALTH AND SYSTEMIC DISEASE

Often patients will come to you and they'll have undiagnosed diabetes.

If you probe their gums, you may find they have periodontitis and very pussy gums.

If you do a test on them, it's common to find out actually they're a diabetic and they never knew about it.

So we will refer back to the general practitioner.

So these are the few main ones that we can sometimes see in the mouth.

Most patients with HIV know they have HIV but we can also see signs of that in the mouth.

The mouth, immunity, and overall well-being

It's all linked with immunity.

The mouth is full of bacteria so, if it's not responding very well to the bacteria, then you know there's something wrong with the immune system.

To some extent you can get a sense that a patient is run down by looking at their mouth.

But it can be very difficult to tell because often patients will have poor oral hygiene.

So what's contributing?

Is it the fact that they are run down or is it the bacteria?

It can be very difficult to tell.