Oral Health - It matters more than you think

Ritesh Bawri

07 Feb 2026 — 2 min read

The human mouth harbors roughly 700 species of bacteria, forming one of the most complex microbial ecosystems in the body.

For decades, dentistry and medicine treated oral health as something that dealth with cavities or gum disease.

That separation is collapsing.

The bacterium drawing the most attention is Porphyromonas gingivalis, the primary driver of periodontitis. Once it breaches damaged gum tissue, it enters the bloodstream and has been detected in arterial plaques and in the pancreas.

Most alarmingly in the brain patients with Alzheimer's.

A landmark 2019 study in Science Advances found P. gingivalis and its toxic enzymes, called gingipains, in post-mortem brain tissue from Alzheimer's cases.

The researchers demonstrated that these gingipains could degrade tau proteins, a hallmark of neurodegeneration.

The cardiovascular connection is equally well-documented. People with severe periodontal disease face roughly double the risk of coronary artery disease compared to those with healthy gums.

The mechanism is not purely bacterial migration. Chronic oral inflammation triggers sustained elevation of inflammatory markers that accelerate cardiovascular risk.

Emerging research now links the oral microbiome to metabolic health as well. Certain oral bacteria play a role in the nitrate-nitric oxide pathway.

Nitric oxide is involved in the process by which your arteries become more flexible, allowing blood to pass.

Antiseptic mouthwashes that indiscriminately kill oral bacteria have been shown to blunt this conversion, measurably raising blood pressure in hypertensive individuals. The clinical implications shift how we think about prevention.

So what should you do?

Simple interventions matter. By far the best thing to do is a mouth rinse with oil. Oil pulling as it is popularly known. Consistent flossing reduces systemic inflammatory markers within weeks.

Avoiding alcohol-based mouthwashes preserves beneficial nitrate-reducing bacteria.

Regular dental cleanings remove the biofilm reservoirs where pathogenic species thrive.

The mouth is not separate from the body. It may be the most accessible early-warning system we have.

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain

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