Wow,not a day goes by that we don’t see more research coming out that links systemic diseases, like heart attacks,strokes, and diabetes to the presence of gum disease. It seems like the chronic infection and inflammation present in a patients gums starts a systemic chain reaction that can lead to plaque formation in blood vessels that can block blood supply to critical organs like the heart and portions of the brain. Voila a heart attack or stroke. The bad news is that gum disease can be silent, with no real symptoms. One of the early signs of gum disease is bleeding gums. I can’t tell you how many times I have had a patient tell me”My gums bleed when I brush my teeth but thats normal. I don’t worry about it.” My response to this is “Does your head bleed when you brush your hair? Would you worry if it did? Then you need to worry when your gums bleed when you brush them.Bleeding gums are never normal!” I’ll post more detailed info on another post. From this one just take the idea that healthy gums help maintain a healthy body and see your dentist if your gums are showing any signs  of  infection or inflammation like bleeding.