Your Gums Might Like a Word with You About What You Eat

Though it’s linked to more than a dozen chronic health problems, many people seem to think that gum disease is no big deal. Oh, they might spit out a little bit of blood after brushing or find blood on their floss. No big deal, right?

Actually, it’s a very big deal, for gum disease can also end up wrecking your smile. Healthy teeth need healthy tissues to support them. Where gum disease has led to bone loss and soft tissue damage, tooth loss becomes a likely fate.

The good news is that, like most of the systemic health conditions linked to it, gum disease is largely preventable. In fact, some research suggests that even if you don’t change anything else, improved nutrition can be enough to boost periodontal health. Typically, this means eating fewer refined carbohydrates and more key nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and fiber.

You might notice some similarities between that and the more plant-based approach we recently blogged about. The key to all these perio-friendly diets is to eat in a way that’s less likely to fuel inflammation – one of the hallmarks of gum disease, not to mention all the systemic conditions it’s been linked with.

This relationship between diet and gum health was more recently highlighted by a systematic review that was published earlier this year in Evidence Based Dentistry.

Specifically, the research team sought to explore whether the same eating patterns that help prevent heart disease and diabetes – both linked with periodontal disease – might also benefit the gums. An exhaustive search of medical databases led to 9 studies that tracked both diet and periodontal health over time. Special emphasis was on studies comparing the effects of low-inflammatory diets – think Mediterranean-style eating – to those of the standard Western diet.

The latter tends to be totally dominated by ultra-processed foods, which are well-known for being inflammatory. Low-inflammatory diets emphasize whole foods – particularly fish, vegetables, nuts, and fiber-rich foods while limiting refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats.

Some of the nine studies were clinical trials, in which participants were assigned specific diets and monitored for a relatively short time. Others were observational studies that tracked participants’ eating habits over longer periods. Standard measures of gum health were tracked, as well, such as the depth of pockets around the teeth, the amount of bleeding during dental exams, and whether there was any bone loss.

In the end, 8 out of 9 studies showed that healthier diets – less inflammatory diets – meant healthier gums. One study in particular found that improving diet reduced gum bleeding by 40%, which its authors said was “comparable to adding interdental cleaning to a patient’s oral hygiene regime.”

Interestingly, the greatest improvements across all studies were found in older adults and non-smokers. Smoking, in fact, appeared to significantly reduce the positive aspects of healthy eating.

The research team noted that while these findings are promising, longer studies with more participants would go a long way toward helping confirm them. The lack of such studies was among a handful of limitations that could affect the quality of their findings.

Still and all,

The evidence reviewed within this systematic review implies that adopting a diet associated with improved outcomes for chronic systemic diseases with an inflammatory component, such as heart disease, obesity or diabetes, has the potential to improve periodontal parameters in patients with gingivitis or periodontitis, particularly in the older population but the effects may be negated by confounding factors such as smoking.

Not only does diet again appear able to improve periodontal health, though; it can also be great prevention, keeping your already healthy gums and smile just the way they are. Healthy eating truly is the foundation of excellent mouth/body health.