At this week’s general session of the International Association of Dental Research in Miami, Florida, researchers from the University of Buffalo will describe their recent study which indicates excess mouth bacteria invites heart attack.  The study concludes that it isn’t the type of bacteria in the mouth but the quantity of it that puts a person at higher risk.

The Buffalo research team, led by Oelisoa M. Andriankaja, DDS, PhD, examined mouth bacteria samples taken from twelve sites in the mouths of 386 adults, aged 35 to 69, who had had heart attacks and similar samples taken from the same sites in 840 adults of the same age group who had never had heart attacks.  The samples were tested for six types of bacteria common to the mouth.

According to their findings, two bacterial samples (Tannerella forsynthesis and Preventella intermedia) were more likely to increase one’s risk of heart attack to a significant degree but an even stronger signal of risk was the quantity of bacteria, of any strain, in a person’s mouth.  The more bacteria, the higher the risk of heart attack.

Andriankaja’s research team would like to see more studies done to more clearly define the link between mouth bacteria and heart disease.  They express particular interest in testing bacterial counts before and after a heart attack occurs.