Inflammatory state of the body
Periodontal (gum) issues are not only preventable but healthy gums can prevent other chronic illnesses. We are on a mission to get this information to as many people as possible.
There are two words in modern periodontology ( the study of gum health) which are the root of all the symptoms. The treating dentist will tackle them without explicitly being aware of them or mentioning them. These are dysbiosis ( touched upon last week) and inflammation (today's topic).
A quick note on dysbiosis for those who missed it last week; it is the change in the harmony of bacterial communities living within a given space. In the case of gum disease, it is the oral bacteria, collectively known as the oral microbiome. Once the bacteria have shifted towards an imbalance, inflammation occurs, which shows symptoms (covered in an earlier edition). To bring the mouth back to health, we either work on dysbiosis ( the cause) or manage the inflammation ( the symptoms). So you see, inflammation and dysbiosis are linked.
What is inflammation?
Inflammation is the human body's response to a threat. Traditionally, the word injury has been used, but I would go as far as to say that if the body feels it is under threat or harm, it will activate the immune system to respond; this includes non-injury situations, including long-term stress. Other stuff to trigger inflammation response are bacteria, versus, parasites, physical injuries in all capacities, and toxins. In medicine, we subdivide inflammation into acute and chronic.
Acute Inflammation
Acute inflammation is a sudden immediate, and severe response to physical injury. This response lasts a short term ( because, let's be honest, if this type of powerful immune activation lasted long, it would be fatal). Pain, redness and swelling one experiences when cutting themselves while chopping are all symptoms of acute inflammation. Having a viral infection in flu season will also activate a similar response. It lasts until the body heals itself or once the threat goes away.
Chronic Inflammation
Chronic inflammation is more complex. It is a response of the immune system in a more long-term process when the 'harm' or 'threat' is in lower doses over a more extended period of time.
The simplistic way to describe what happens during chronic inflammation is the inability of the immune system to eliminate the threat. So it remains 'on' and starts to cause harm to the body itself.
This forms the basis of most modern illnesses under the umbrella term chronic diseases or 'non-communicable diseases'.
Reasons why a body may switch to a chronic inflammation state are; failure to kill a microbe entirely ( Tuberculosis, Long Covid or fungal infections are some examples), a low level of exposure to toxins that isn't enough to illicit an acute response ( industrial chemicals, chemicals in cigarettes), autoimmune disorders where the body recognises parts of the body as foreign and so attacks them to eliminate ( Inflammatory Bowel Diseases such as Crohn's are a good example or later stages of diabetes or Rheumatoid arthritis), frequent production or exposure to free radicals chemicals (such as proteins which attach themselves to excess sugar in the body-AGEs or cooking oils that old and therefore started to breakdown partially), and in some rare cases there are genetic issues that result in an immune system that isn't functionally working leaving the person in a constant ( chronic ) state of inflammation.
Common chronic illnesses and how they are related
Within the last 20 years, it has become apparent that most chronic illnesses are linked with one another through inflammation. Inflammation in these cases is switched through various lifestyle factors such as stress, poor sleep, smoking, imbalanced nutrition or lack of physical movement. The body recognises the chemical released in a lack of sleep, for example, as a threat, so it switches on the immune system and triggers low-grade inflammation to combat it. Unless lack of sleep is addressed, the immune system remains active and thus begins to damage the body leading to symptoms. This is a simplified version of what happens to give you an idea. This immune response is more complex if there is more than one risk factor. The resulting symptoms are also more diverse.
Most common chronic illnesses include heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, allergies and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases ( COPD). It should now come as no shock that gum disease's risk factors are some of these diseases- diabetes, heart diseases and arthritis are the ones we know most about. However, in the last few years, pulmonary diseases have also shown links with periodontal diseases. Periodontal disease is now known as diabetes of the mouth.
What happens in periodontal (gum disease)?
Periodontal disease is an inflammation response to a bacterial infection, the biofilm (details on biofilm here). Initially, this manifests as an acute inflammation (gingivitis). Should the gingivitis remain or recur, the inflammation changes to a more chronic nature with some autoimmune features (destruction of the tooth's gums, ligaments and bone).
The disease is further complicated if there are risk factors in addition to bacterial biofilms. Some risk factors include smoking, stress and imbalanced nutritional states (like every other chronic illness).
Over the coming months, we will explore the risk factors and the science behind how they relate to periodontal issues. In the meantime, we found this recent article useful (on chronic inflammation as a whole).
This week’s post’s images are from the wonderful British photographer Andrew James Campbell. Just like inflammation tints the body in shades of red, his images also have hints of red.
If you made it this far (a big thank you and we appreciate your valuable time and attention). We hope we were able make inflammation understandable and you were able to appreciate how it relates to your gum health.
If you have any questions or feedback, please email or DM us on Instagram @thegumguide. Please note that we cannot diagnose and give personalised health advice ( kindly see your dental professional for that).
Lastly, if you found this post useful (you may have even found it fun!), please share it with friends & family. See you next week ;)