Don’t you just love it when your opinions get vindicated! Recently the Journal of Periodontology carried an article reporting on a study that looked into the possibility of a link between diet, specifically a Mediterranean diet, exercise, and periodontal disease.* As all our patients know, periodontal disease has been the major cause of tooth loss for quite some time now, and the pathologic bacteria that cause it are also known to get into the bloodstream and migrate to other organs in the body – brain, heart, kidneys, and joints, to name some more common examples – where they continue to cause and contribute to disease and disfunction – Alzheimer’s and dementia, heart attacks, diabetes, arthritis…
Many of you are acquainted with our Medical and Lifestyle Questionnaire which we use to help ferret out systemic issues that may be contributing to a decreased resistance to infection, periodontal infection in particular. And as you recall, diet and exercise are two of the main things we inquire about. We have done this on the general knowledge that systemic health has a great deal to do with disease and infection resistance. But it hasn’t been until now that we have had scientific evidence related specifically to periodontal disease.
The upshot of the study is that people that do not exercise regularly and who do not follow a Mediterranean style diet have a huge – 10 TIMES! – greater chance of developing periodontal disease. 10 TIMES! The pharmaceutical industry would go wild if they thought they could reduce a risk by that much; they’d go ape crazy! But you can bet this one will get buried. There’s no money in it.
High in fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains. Low in meats – especially processed meats, fish, dairy, and alcohol. This is the diet responsible for the designation of Sardinia, Italy as one of 5 Blue Zones – areas where people are known to live especially long.
Want to live long and keep your teeth to enjoy it with? You need to eat and exercise well. But knowing how and actually making those changes can be difficult. That’s why we sponsor the Pivio/CHIP program, the science-based lifestyle education and coaching program proven to get you on the right track. If you are ready to take your oral and systemic health to the next level, give us a call. We’ve got just what you need!
* Adherence to Mediterranean diet, physical activity level, and severity of periodontitis: Results from a university-based cross-sectional study; Marruganti, Traversi, et al; J Periodontol. 2022;93:1218–1232.
