Health

Ask the dentist: Healthy gums aid body's defence against Covid

Research shows that unhealthy gums put us at more risk from Covid, says Lucy Stock of Gentle Dental Care in Belfast

Gum disease experts are recommending rinsing with mouthwashes for 30 seconds before and after you engage in social interactions
Gum disease experts are recommending rinsing with mouthwashes for 30 seconds before and after you engage in social interactions Gum disease experts are recommending rinsing with mouthwashes for 30 seconds before and after you engage in social interactions

THE SARS-CoV-2 virus has got its spiky feet well and truly under the table and is here to stay, so the question has got to be what are our strategies to manage the blighter so that we can live as freely as possible?

Emerging research is pointing towards simple ways that we can improve our mouth defences before we go into social situations to reduce the chances of the virus spreading throughout our body.

It all started when Dr Graham Lloyd-Jones, a radiologist, noticed that the Covid lesions were forming in the base of the lungs and not the upper parts, which typically signifies an airway infection.

This means that the virus is not being inhaled and driven down into our lungs - it's getting to the lungs via another route namely our bloodstream.

The medics then teamed up with the dentists to look at the possible virus entry points in the mouth and they published their findings in the Journal of Oral Medicine and Dental Research.

Healthy gums form a tight cuff around teeth sealing off the saliva from the rest of our body. However, in gum disease the gums become loose and leaky; microscopic, ulcerated areas form that allow saliva with all its bacteria and viruses to gain entrance into the blood vessels.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is thought to travel from the diseased gums to the heart which them pumps them at high speed towards the base of the lungs where the virus begins to wreak havoc.

A different study this year showed that people with severe gum disease who contracted the virus had an 8.8 times higher risk for death, 4.6 times higher risk for needing mechanical ventilation, and 3.5 times higher risk for ICU admission even after taking account of factors such as age, other medical problems, and smoking.

The top gum disease experts are recommending rinsing with mouthwashes for 30 seconds before and after you engage in social interactions. They are suggesting ones containing cetylpyridinium chloride like Colgate Total or ethyl lauroxyl arginate, which is in Listerine.

Mouthwashes are the icing on the cake - toothbrushing which goes over your gumline and cleaning between the teeth twice a day every day are key to keeping gum disease at bay.