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Take Care of Your Teeth, Take Care of Your Heart

Cleaning your teeth often, every day, is linked to a lower risk for heart problems. A new study found that brushing your teeth several times a day resulted in fewer cases of heart failure and atrial fibrillation— the term for an uneven heartbeat.

Heart failure happens when the heart cannot do its job of pumping blood through the body.

What the research found is that brushing your teeth three times a day, or more, was linked to a ten percent lower risk of atrial fibrillation. It was also linked to a twelve percent lower risk of heart failure.

The study was published last Monday in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

The researchers examined information on more than 161,000 people in Korea with no history of heart problems.

They followed up ten and a half years later, and found that three percent had developed uneven heart rhythms and almost five percent had developed heart failure.

All the participants in the study were part of the Korean National Health Insurance System, and aged 40 to 79. They had usual medical exams between 2003 and 2004. Information was collected on their height, weight, laboratory tests, sicknesses, and lifestyle. They also noted their mouth health in connection with cleaning.