Bleeding gums can signal heart disease risk. Dr. Katie To explains how inflammation from your mouth enters the bloodstream, and a blood test called hs-CRP measures this systemic inflammation, one of the strongest predictors of future cardiac events. Oral health problems may reveal cardiovascular danger years before symptoms show up.
Bleeding gums might be a heart disease warning sign. Read that again. Bleeding gums, heart disease connected. There's blood marker called high-sensitive CRP. It measures inflammations, and elevated inflammation is one of the strongest predictors of future heart problems. Now here is when it gets uncomfortable. When your gums bleed, that inflammation doesn't stay in your mouth. Is enter your bloodstream. Your body doesn't know the difference between inflammation in your gums and inflammation anywhere else. Fire is fire. And I've seen patients with bleeding gums whose blood work tells the exact same story. Your mouth might be giving you a warning years before your heart does.
