Blog

The inside of your mouth is the perfect place for bacteria to thrive: It’s dark, it’s warm, it’s wet and the foods and drinks you consume provide nutrients for them to eat.

But when the harmful bacteria build up around your teeth and gums, you’re at risk of developing periodontal (or gum) disease, experts say, which is an infection and inflammation in the gums and bone that surround your teeth.

And such conditions in your mouth may influence the rest of your body, said Kimberly Bray, a professor of dental hygiene at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

A growing yet limited body of research, for instance, has found that periodontal disease is associated with a range of health conditions including diabetes, heart disease, respiratory infections and dementia.

Like other areas of the body, the mouth is full of germs. Those germs are mostly harmless. But the mouth is the entry to the digestive tract. That’s the long tube of organs from the mouth to the anus that food travels through. The mouth also is the entry to the organs that allow breathing, called the respiratory tracts. So sometimes germs in the mouth can lead to disease throughout the body.