Don’t Neglect Your Bleeding Gums

We’ve discussed what causes your bleeding gums, but it’s also important to know what happens if you neglect them. It may be easy to rinse your mouth out and go on with your day, but there are serious health complications that can arise if you do not tend to your bleeding gums.

Gum Disease

When your body suffers an injury or infection, its natural response is inflammation. So, your body’s response to gum disease is inflammation, and bleeding. However, as inflammation builds in your blood and your body continues to fight the infection, you put other areas of your body at risk.

What Can Be Impacted?

Ignoring your gum disease could put your heart at risk. Those with gum disease are more likely to have heart disease and atherosclerosis, which is plaque buildup in your arteries. It is believed that treating your gum disease can reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.

Gum disease can also make it manage to difficult diabetes. Gum disease makes it harder to control your body’s blood sugar levels, making your diabetes worse. However, if you have diabetes, you are more likely to develop gum disease. It is a vicious cycle, and its important to stress your overall health.

If you are pregnant and have gum disease, you are putting you and your baby at risk of a premature delivery. The bacteria in your gums may enter your bloodstream, and travel to your baby. This can prompt an early delivery, which also increasing the chance your baby is delivered with a low birth weight.

There are also some studies that show a connection between gum disease and cancer. If you have long-term gum disease, the resulting inflammation may increase your odds of having cancer.