Shine OnCan brushing your teeth help prevent arthritis?
Do you have impeccable oral hygiene? We've got some good news for you. Not only are you staving off tooth decay and gum disease, but you may also be lowering your chance of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
Scientists at the University of Louisville have discovered that the same bacteria that causes gum disease produces a unique enzyme which may increase a person's chance of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
The study, which was conducted on mice, shows the bacteria P. gingivalis causes the worsening of a type of arthritis that is equivalent to rheumatoid arthritis in humans.
Also see: Do these vegetables trigger arthritis?
"This research does appear to have broken new ground in suggesting a plausible mechanism that links gum disease to arthritis, something that has been suggested for years but has never been proven," reports National Health Service, a branch of the U.K. government.
Previous studies suggest that gum disease is at least two times more common in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
The new study, published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, sought to investigate the relationship between two gum disease bacteria -- P. gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia --and rheumatoid arthritis.
Also see: Habit that doubles the risk of rheumatoid arthritis
Researchers infected mice that had arthritis with the two aforementioned bacteria and then measured how well the mice coped with their disease by looking at the rate of progression and severity of the disease.
The results? The mice only responded negatively to P. gingivalis bacteria, which worsened the arthritis by causing earlier onset, faster progression and enhanced severity. The bacteria also significantly increased bone and cartilage destruction.
"This sheds some light on how the same thing might happen in people," reports NHS. "However, we need to be quite cautious in this assumption, as none of the experiments involved people – there may be further complexities to be uncovered in the human form of the disease."
