{"id":35561,"date":"2026-10-16T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/?p=35561"},"modified":"2026-10-15T11:41:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T16:41:04","slug":"throwback-six-mouth-infections-you-need-to-get-rid-of-if-you-have-heart-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/2026\/10\/16\/throwback-six-mouth-infections-you-need-to-get-rid-of-if-you-have-heart-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Throwback: Six Mouth Infections You Need to Get Rid of if You Have Heart Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Address Oral Health to Prevent Heart Attacks, Strokes, and High Blood Pressure<\/b><\/h3>\n

When you ask most people, \u201cWhat can you do to treat heart disease?\u201d they will say \u201cdiet and exercise.\u201d But how many people mention mouth bacteria at the top of the list for turning around heart disease? Even medical doctors rarely mention this as a top contributor to heart disease. While diet and exercise are critical, don\u2019t overlook the sinister bacteria lurking in the mouth that cause gum infections and send the heart into a downward spiral. Even after a heart attack, it isn\u2019t too late to turn the ship around. Everyone should be talking about this, including medical practitioners, dentists, and consumers. Addressing oral health should be a fundamental component of a heart health program. Work with your oral health team to tackle the sinister six pathogens, run oral pathogen testing, get the right kind of doctors and dentists on your team, and take steps with your home care to turn around gum disease and heart disease with a one-two punch.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s Never Too Late to Reduce Your Heart Disease Risk with These Oral Health Steps<\/b><\/h3>\n

When your mouth bacteria are contributing to heart disease, the main action items are to test the oral microbiome, get rid of bad bacteria, and build up good bacteria. Follow these tips to grow friendly bacteria, chase off the bad bacteria, and cool off the inflammation in the cardiovascular system. These recommendations are <\/span>in addition<\/span><\/i> to exercise and lifestyle recommendations for reversing heart disease. Improvements to your heart health happen lightning fast when you address your oral health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get Rid of Bad Mouth Infections<\/b><\/h3>\n

Choose an anti-inflammatory, whole-foods diet<\/b> with plenty of colorful vegetables and fruits, greens, lean protein, nuts and seeds, and fiber. What you eat all day and everyday has a tremendous effect on the microbes in your mouth. Avoid sugar, refined carbohydrates, and packaged foods which promote unhealthy oral bacteria. The fiber and prebiotics from this diet will feed good bacteria.<\/span><\/p>\n

Test the oral microbiome<\/b> with OralDNA Labs\u00ae\u2019 MyPerioPath\u00ae. It measures 11 periodontal pathogens with a simple saliva test and can help your dentist or periodontist pinpoint which bad mouth bacteria might be contributing to heart disease.<\/span><\/p>\n

Test hs-CRP to find out your systemic inflammation<\/b>. A high level indicates risk of inflammation, heart disease, and<\/span> gum infections<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Find a dentist who understands and treats the oral-systemic link<\/b> using this<\/span> directory of oral-systemic dental practitioners by the American Academy of Oral-Systemic Health (AAOSH)<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Antimicrobials or antibiotics<\/b> may be needed at the direction of a dentist to reduce bacterial infections in the mouth. These should be used with caution as they can further imbalance the good bacteria.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dental hygiene<\/b> is critical for keeping the oral microbiome balanced. Brushing twice daily, flossing, and visiting your dentist for regular cleanings help to keep mouth bacteria healthy and catch bad bacteria and gum infections early.<\/span><\/p>\n

Periodontal treatments<\/b> such as scaling and root planning may be needed to remove bacteria above and below the gum line and in periodontal pockets. It clears out bacterial overgrowth so that the gums can heal, and it reduces the number of bad bacteria flowing to the heart through the bloodstream.<\/span><\/p>\n

After you get heart-disease-causing bacteria out of the mouth, check out my recommendations to<\/span> heal leaky gums by reducing inflammation and repairing the gum tissues<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a condensed version of Cass Nelson Dooley\u2019s<\/span> full blog<\/span><\/a>. Cass puts out a high-quality, referenced e-newsletter about the oral microbiome, gut health, food allergies, and hidden toxins each month. Consumers and practitioners who<\/span> subscribe<\/span><\/a> will receive the popular \u201cBuyer\u2019s Guide to High-Quality, Safe, Nutritional Supplements for You and Your Family\u201d at no charge, as well as discount offers on natural oral health products.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can find more about Cass on the <\/span>Health First Consulting<\/span><\/a> page of our <\/span>Protocol Directory<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We hope you enjoyed the throwback blog. This blog originally posted March 15th, 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Address Oral Health to Prevent Heart Attacks, Strokes, and High Blood Pressure When you ask most people, \u201cWhat can you do to treat heart disease?\u201d they will say \u201cdiet and exercise.\u201d But how many people mention mouth bacteria at the top of the list for turning around heart disease? Even medical doctors rarely mention this Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":28362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,57,110,182],"tags":[37,12,16,147,17,112,15,3,195],"class_list":["post-35561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiovascular-disease","category-oral-systemic","category-salivary-diagnostics","category-throwback","tag-cardiovascular-disease","tag-dental-bacterial-test","tag-dental-test-for-bacteria-in-the-mouth","tag-oral-microbiome","tag-oral-systemic-connection","tag-patient-education","tag-saliva-test-for-bacteria","tag-salivary-diagnostics","tag-throwback"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Cass-Nelson-Dooley_Featured-Image.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7W16z-9fz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35561"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35563,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35561\/revisions\/35563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}