I Have Heart Disease

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Characteristics & what to look for

It’s important to maintain your dental health to keep your heart and blood vessels healthy. Heart disease is a silent disease and you may not know you have it until after a heart attack or stroke has already occurred. Heart disease and periodontal disease both have very few outward symptoms. Screening for both diseases is critical in early identification and treatment. Treatment for periodontal and root canal infections will decrease the amount of inflammation that your body and blood vessels have to bear. If you already have cholesterol plaques in the lining of your blood vessels, treating your dental infections can make those plaques less prone to rupture.

Causes of the symptom and effects of the symptom

Disease is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular (heart) disease, similar to family history, high blood pressure and obesity. Inflammation from periodontal disease and root canal infections can change the lining of your blood vessels, making cholesterol plaques easier to invade that lining. This inflammation can also make plaques that are already built up in your blood vessels more likely to rupture and cause a heart attack or stroke.