There are many reasons why we should all brush our teeth, but now there is growing evidence that poor oral health could increase the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Express reports that people with poor oral health could potentially end up with more severe symptoms of the coronavirus, according to research, which claimed that people who have gum disease are 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalised and need intensive care than those better oral health.
They are also nine times as likely to die with covid and 4.5 times as likely to need to be put on a ventilator, the research claims.
Not only is there a link between oral health and COVID-19, but with many other diseases too. Poor oral health has been associated with making other diseases worse, which happens when sustained bad oral hygiene leads to dysbiosis, where the bacteria in the mouth change from a passive state into an aggressive one.
The aggravated mouth bacteria then leads to gum disease, destroying mouth tissues and entering the bloodstream. This allows it to infect the body, settling in various organs and raising levels of inflammation over time, and contributing to various specific and chronic conditions.
If this happens, there’s barely a part of the body that can’t potentially be affected.
Research shows that people with poor oral health also sometimes have elevated levels of CRP, a specific inflammatory marker, and cytokines – which suggests that gum disease can trigger the same sort of zealous immune response as the coronavirus.
So if the two diseases are encountered at the same time, with coronavirus and aggressive mouth bacteria both circling in the blood, then it’s possible that they together might tip the immune response into harming the body’s own tissues, leading to worse outcomes for people.
A major issue with COVID and other respiratory viral illnesses are bacterial superinfections. These are where areas directly infected by the virus – such as the lungs and airways – are simultaneously infected with bacteria.
Bacterial superinfections are common in people who have COVID and they’re significantly more common in people with severe disease.
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