Oct 6, 2026 · 11 min · 10 segments
Your mouth isn’t separate from the rest of your body. Emerging research on the oral microbiome is revealing how bacteria around our teeth and gums—and the inflammation linked to gum disease—may…
Ken ChesterHost
If the eyes are considered a window to the soul, then the mouth may reveal just as much about a person's health and the diseases that shape how we age.
Scientists are studying how issues that start in the mouth may contribute to chronic inflammation elsewhere in the body.
Never thought the t- two would have something in common, but they do, and when I get done with this piece, you may realize, like, "Duh, why haven't we been doing this?" Scientists are linking oral bacteria to heart disease and cognitive decline, and a push is underway to treat the mouth as a source of body-wide inflammation.
They want to get and link dental health with overall body health, and when you think about it, well, yeah, but we've never been there.
In particular, they're examining how bacteria from diseased gums and the immune response they trigger may contribute to conditions including heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline, arthritis, respiratory disease, and chronic liver disease.
The emerging science poses a challenge for healthcare, given the traditional divide between medicine and dentistry.
You never thought that the two would be together, but honestly, if you think about it, anything to do with your body, your mouth, your eyes, um, hands and feet, wouldn't it make more sense if all that was together? But we got specialists for this and specialists for that, and they don't talk to each other, particularly when it comes to oral health.
The emerging science poses a challenge for healthcare, given the traditional divide between medicine and dentistry, fields that have been long divided by separate training, records, and insurance systems.
Dentists have not been traditionally trained to think about whole-body health in relation to the mouth, and doctors haven't been trained to see dental health as a first step to overall well-being, and this is according to Dr. Jessa- Jessica Lederhausen, a dentist and author of Oral, a book exploring the role of lifestyle on oral health.
If the eyes are considered a window to the soul, then the mouth may reveal just as much about a person's health and the diseases that shape how we age.
Scientists are studying how issues that start in the mouth may contribute to chronic inflammation elsewhere in the body.
Never thought the t- two would have something in common, but they do, and when I get done with this piece, you may realize, like, "Duh, why haven't we been doing this?" Scientists are linking oral bacteria to heart disease and cognitive decline, and a push is underway to treat the mouth as a source of body-wide inflammation.
They want to get and link dental health with overall body health, and when you think about it, well, yeah, but we've never been there.
In particular, they're examining how bacteria from diseased gums and the immune response they trigger may contribute to conditions including heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline, arthritis, respiratory disease, and chronic liver disease.
The emerging science poses a challenge for healthcare, given the traditional divide between medicine and dentistry.
You never thought that the two would be together, but honestly, if you think about it, anything to do with your body, your mouth, your eyes, um, hands and feet, wouldn't it make more sense if all that was together? But we got specialists for this and specialists for that, and they don't talk to each other, particularly when it comes to oral health.
The emerging science poses a challenge for healthcare, given the traditional divide between medicine and dentistry, fields that have been long divided by separate training, records, and insurance systems.
Dentists have not been traditionally trained to think about whole-body health in relation to the mouth, and doctors haven't been trained to see dental health as a first step to overall well-being, and this is according to Dr. Jessa- Jessica Lederhausen, a dentist and author of Oral, a book exploring the role of lifestyle on oral health.
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