As an experiment, Dr. Christoffer Van Tulleken didn’t brush his teeth for two weeks. Well…

In actuality, Dr. Van Tulleken wore a gum guard on one side of his mouth while he brushed. This ensured that the teeth and gums on that side of his mouth gained no benefits from his normal brushing. After the two weeks, he brushed his teeth normally.

“My gums bled a bit and there was pink, blood-spattered spit in the bathroom sink. I had developed mild gum disease.”

Gum Disease Doesn’t Take Long

Fairly obvious right? If he continued not treating his teeth, he could lose some teeth. But is that the worst of what he was doing to his body?

No. When he looked into it further, Dr. Van Tulleken was able to make ties between oral health and overall health. When he visited Professor Iain Chapple, at the University of Birmingham School of Dentistry they found that not brushing his teeth damaged Christoffer’s immune system.

Lab tests showed his white blood cells becoming less effective at getting rid of infection. Gum disease brings inflammation, and chronic inflammation can damage other cells throughout the body, particularly in our organs and circulatory system.

Short-term inflammation is good – it shows that your body is responding and fighting infection, but chronic infection or inflammation (like gum disease) can overwork your immune system. This sets off a damaging chain reaction in your body.

Unhealthy Gums and Diabetes

Chronic inflammation can seriously affect your overall wellbeing. Studies show that it is strongly linked to developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, stroke, and even cancer.

Because he only dealt with it for a couple weeks, Dr. Van Tulleken was able to reverse the effects not-brushing had on his overall health. But he was assured that if he (and you) left gum disease untreated for longer, you will be giving yourself irreversible damage.

Dr. Van Tulleken is an infectious diseases specialist, so he did not know very much about teeth. Oral health is very specialized, but he now realizes that it plays a part in our overall health:

“Gum disease isn’t just bad for your teeth, it shortens your life — simple as that.”

He goes on to suggest that  looking after your teeth is one of the most important health interventions you can make.

And it’s not just about brushing daily, but when you brush. If you have an acidic mouth (i.e.: after drinking red wine or carbonated beverages, or eating sugary foods) you should not be brushing. Dr. Van Tulleken got a family with 6 kids to be part of a study.

Family Mouth Health

Instead of getting the family to change what they ate, he got them to change when they ate specific things. Half of the family ate their sugary snacks only at the end of meals, and the other half ate the snacks between meals.

The experiment tested the in-mouth acid levels of the family every hour. It concluded that the snackers had dangerous acidity levels throughout the day, in comparison to those who only ate sugary foods with their meals.

Brushing is important, but knowing when – and how long – to brush is equally important. If you’re brushing your mouth when it is highly acidic, you’ll be doing more damage than good.

The link is not direct, but it is there. If you don’t brush, you leave your gum susceptible to gum disease, and your body open to inflammation. When your white blood cells don’t work like they should, you leave the door to Bad Health (including diabetes, dementia, and worse) open.

SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3106440/Not-brushing-teeth-trigger-dementia-heart-disease-unique-experiment-shows-bad-dental-hygiene-wrecks-entire-body-s-immune-system.html