“Watch your mouth," the saying goes, and science is turning up ever more reasons to heed that advice literally. Preventing gum disease (periodontitis), the leading cause of adult tooth loss, is gaining new urgency as research shows that gum disease can contribute to illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and pneumonia. The culprit, scientists believe, is a spillover of bacteria and inflammatory agents from the mouth into the bloodstream, which bustles them off to the rest of the body. Related problems include these:
Diabetes