{"id":22033,"date":"2026-07-14T11:37:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T07:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=22033"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:39:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T07:39:02","slug":"gum-disease-may-cause-heart-valve-damage-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/gum-disease-may-cause-heart-valve-damage-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Gum disease may cause heart valve damage: Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span class=\"\">Bacteria that cause gum disease may inflict far more damage on our bodies than simply harming our teeth.<\/span><span class=\"\"> According to a new study presented at the American Heart Association&#8217;s (AHA) Scientific Sessions,<\/span><span class=\"\"> these bacteria contribute to calcium buildup in the heart&#8217;s aortic valve.<\/span><span class=\"\"> This process,<\/span><span class=\"\"> in turn,<\/span><span class=\"\"> may lead to calcific aortic valve stenosis (CAVS)\u2014a common and life-threatening heart valve disease.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\"><span class=\"\">Aortic valve stenosis develops when the valve gradually thickens and accumulates calcium (calcifies).<\/span><span class=\"\"> This process impedes the normal flow of blood from the heart to the rest of the body,<\/span><span class=\"\"> which over time can cause severe fatigue,<\/span><span class=\"\"> shortness of breath,<\/span><span class=\"\"> chest pain,<\/span><span class=\"\"> heart failure,<\/span><span class=\"\"> and even premature death.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Currently,<\/span><span class=\"\"> there is no medication to prevent or halt the progression of this severe disease,<\/span><span class=\"\"> and the only treatment method is surgical valve replacement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\"><span class=\"\">Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences focused on the bacterium <\/span><i class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"6\" data-index-in-node=\"82\">Porphyromonas gingivalis<\/i><span class=\"\">,<\/span><span class=\"\"> which causes chronic gum inflammation.<\/span><span class=\"\"> The scientists analyzed heart valve tissues from patients who had undergone surgery and discovered that the concentration of this bacterium in the damaged valves was surprisingly high.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\"><span class=\"\">Following this,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the scientists conducted experiments on mice to determine the exact biological mechanism.<\/span><span class=\"\"> It was revealed that the bacterium&#8217;s entry into the body activates a specific inflammatory protein (interleukin-1 beta),<\/span><span class=\"\"> which directly accelerates calcium deposition in the valve.<\/span><span class=\"\"> When the researchers administered preventive antibiotics to the mice or genetically blocked the aforementioned inflammatory protein,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the symptoms of valve damage were dramatically reduced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\"><span class=\"\">Experts emphasize that this study is yet another important piece of evidence showing how closely oral hygiene and heart health are connected.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Although these data are preliminary and require further clinical confirmation in humans,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the main message from the scientists is simple:<\/span><span class=\"\"> caring for oral health is an important part of preventing cardiovascular diseases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2026\/07\/260713000751.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Science Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bacteria that cause gum disease may inflict far more damage on our bodies than simply harming our teeth. According to a new study presented at the American Heart Association&#8217;s (AHA) Scientific Sessions, these bacteria contribute to calcium buildup in the heart&#8217;s aortic valve. This process, in turn, may lead to calcific aortic valve stenosis (CAVS)\u2014a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1649,1594,1665,1587,1657],"tags":[6272],"class_list":["post-22033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dentistry","category-news","category-public-health","category-research","category-science","tag-gum-disease"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22037,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22033\/revisions\/22037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}