LATEST RESEARCH published
Could brushing your teeth reduce your risk of complications from COVID-19?
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41415-020-1747-8.pdf
On January 30th, 2020, the World Health Organisation identified COVID-19, caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, to be a global emergency. The risk factors already identified for developing complications from a COVID-19 infection are age, gender, and comorbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. These risk factors, however, do not account for the other 52% of deaths arising from COVID-19 in often seemingly healthy individuals. Furthermore, COVID-19 infections can present with mild, moderate or severe illness. Whilst some patients develop severe complications, others only suffer from a sore throat or lack of smell for a few days. Why do some seemingly healthy people with no predisposing medical issues develop complications from COVID-19 more than others?
Compelling new research has shown that there may be a possible link between the severity of COVID-19 infections and the number of bacteria within the mouth. Over 80% of patients who were submitted to ICU for severe complications of COVID-19 in Beijing exhibited exceptionally high volumes of bacteria. The bacteria present in the lungs of deceased patients also exhibited abnormally high levels of oral bacteria that is usually found in gum disease and decay. This may explain why a combination of antiviral and antibiotic treatment has shown to be the most effective in curing patients with severe cases of COVID-19. A promising new study in France shows that the combination of hydroxychloroquine (anti-viral) with azithromycin (antibiotic) has virologically cured 100% of patients in 6 days compared to patients who had hydroxychloroquine alone (57.1%) and those who had no treatment (12.5%). Patients who began treatment with only the antiviral showed improvement when an antibiotic was added to their regime and was virologically cured after two days. The addition of an antibiotic therefore radically improves treatment prognosis, suggesting that in severe cases, the infection is a combination of viral and bacterial.
It has been established that inadequate oral hygiene can increase the risk of bacteria travelling from the mouth to the lungs, causing an increased risk of respiratory infections and post-viral complications such as pneumonia. Good oral hygiene has been recognized as a means to prevent airway infections in patients, especially in those over the age of 70, with significantly fewer patients contracting pneumonia when they have received oral care as opposed to those without oral care. Furthermore, it has been established that one in ten pneumonia-related deaths in the elderly could be prevented by improving oral hygiene.
The three main risk factors for developing complications from COVID-19; diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease all also have gum disease as a common factor. Patients with gum disease are at a 25% increased risk of heart disease (1) (2), triple the risk of diabetes (3) and a 20% increased risk of high blood pressure. The bacteria found in gum disease has been shown to also alter the body’s immune response, cause inflammation, and increase the number of bacteria in the mouth.
Whilst this pandemic takes a grip of us all, we must still remember what our dentist has told us- it could save our life! Oral hygiene should be maintained if not improved if you suspect you have coronavirus. This could reduce the number of bacteria in the mouth and therefore reduce the risk of bacterial superinfection. We should all be brushing our teeth twice a day with a fluoridated toothpaste to clear our mouths of bacteria. You could not only be saving your dentist and/or hygienist a hard time post quarantine but also yourself from bacterial infection.
