When we think about dental health, we usually think about sugar, cavities, and that sort of thing. But increasingly, dental problems seem linked to other health conditions as well. For instance, if gums are swollen, this can lead to periodontitis — an infection that’s linked to cardiovascular disease. But we can also use this to our advantage. A team of researchers has found a way to identify the early signs of the disease from a simple saliva sample.

Previous studies have found people with gum disease have two to three times the risk of having a cardiovascular event. This is because inflammatory factors may enter the bloodstream through the gums and from there, start damaging the vascular system. Dentists usually advise daily toothbrushing and flossing to prevent and even reverse gum disease. In turn, this can also protect your cardiovascular system.

Ker-Yung Hong from the University of Western Ontario and his team used an oral rinse to check the levels of white blood cells in the saliva of healthy adults. These cells are an indicator of gum inflammation and could serve as an early warning.

Overall, scientists found high levels were linked with compromised flow-mediated dilation. This dilation (widening) of an artery happens during increases in blood flow through that artery. When this process is compromised, it’s an indicator of poor arterial health.

“We are starting to see more relationships between oral health and risk of cardiovascular disease,” Ker-Yung Hong, first author, said in a news release. “If we are seeing that oral health may have an impact on the risk of developing cardiovascular disease even in young healthy individuals, this holistic approach can be implemented earlier on.”

Gum care for health care

The researchers used two direct indicators of cardiovascular risk: pulse-wave velocity, which measures the stiffness of arteries, and flow-mediated dilation. These indicators measure arterial health directly and poorly functioning arteries are associated with cardiovascular disease.

For their study, they recruited a group of 28 non-smokers between 18 and 30 years old who had no comorbidities and were taking no medications that could alter cardiovascular risk, while also having no reported history of periodontal disease. The researchers asked them to refrain from eating any food for six hours before they visited the laboratory for the study.

Participants then rinsed their mouths with water before rising their mouths with saline (a mix of salt and water). This sample was collected for analysis. The researchers also had the participants lie down for about 10 minutes for an electrocardiogram. They also measured their blood pressure, pulse-wave velocity, and flow-meditated dilation.

The researchers found that white blood cells in saliva showed a significant correlation to poor flow-mediated dilation, which suggests these participants could have a high risk of cardiovascular disease. Nevertheless, there wasn’t a link between white blood cells and pulse wave velocity, which means long-term impacts on the health of the arteries hadn’t happened yet.

In other words, this simple test could show whether you’re at risk for cardiovascular conditions. Even better, it could do so early, before any permanent damage has happened.

“The mouth rinse test could be used at your annual checkup at the family doctors or the dentist,” Michael Glogauer of the University of Toronto, a co-author of the study, said in a news release. “It is easy to implement as an oral inflammation measuring tool in any clinic.”

In their study, they suggested that inflammatory activity in the mouth may extend to the bloodstream and interfere with the arteries’ capacity to generate nitric oxide, a crucial element for their responsiveness to shifts in blood circulation. High levels of white blood cells might exacerbate the impairment of vascular function, the researchers hypothesized.

“Optimal oral hygiene is always recommended in addition to regular visits to the dentist, especially in light of this evidence,” Trevor King, study author, said in a news release. “But this study was a pilot study. We are hoping to increase the study population and explore those results.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Oral Health.