By Dave Schafer

You’re at your bathroom sink, brushing your teeth. A bit of thin red blood is mixed with the thick creamy white glob of toothpaste when you spit. The water is tinted red when you rinse.

No big deal. Everyone’s gums bleed a little. Scrubbing your gums with a toothbrush and floss are rough procedures. Right?
Wrong. Perhaps deadly wrong.

Bleeding gums indicate germs, or plaque, have infected the tissue surrounding and supporting the teeth, said Dr. Johanna DeYoung, chief of the Health and Human Services’ Oral Health Bureau.

Nearly 80 percent of American adults have gingivitis or some form of periodontitis, the Mayo Clinic reports.

“If you notice blood from a particular area, clean it even better,” DeYoung said.

Regular and diligent cleaning is the key to a cleaner mouth, and a cleaner mouth is an indication of a healthier body, studies have found.

Gum invasion
“The cleaner your mouth is, the healthier your body should be,” said Meleesa Mocek, a hygienist for Dr. Patrick J. McClellan’s general dentistry practice.

Gum disease, a type of periodontal disease, isn’t a natural part of aging. It’s caused by the accumulation of food and bacteria below the gumline.
The symptoms of gingivitis, the most common gum disease, are irritation, inflammation and bleeding.

Untreated gingivitis can progress to more serious diseases such as periodontitis, an infection of the bone and gum tissue that attach the tooth to the bone. Forty percent of Americans over age 12, and 80 percent over age 65, have some form of periodontitis. Bone loss progresses slowly, and its severity is determined by the amount of plaque and calculus below the gumline.

In some cases, periodontitis presents no signs.. If untreated, or treated too late, periodontitis can lead to tooth loss.

Heart effects
Germs in the mouth can cause sensitive teeth, bad breath or, when mixed with sugar, cavities. But something worse can happen when gums bleed: It gives germs an entry point into your bloodstream.

Researchers are studying the connections between gum disease and stroke, premature births, diabetes and respiratory disease. They’ve already found a correlation between gum disease and heart disease. “Bacteria from your mouth breaks free and gets into your blood stream, and it has an affinity for the heart,” Mocek said.

People with a history of heart disease should be particularly diligent about brushing their teeth, she said.

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