14th August 2024: They say that the eyes are the windows to your soul, but your smile may tell us more about your health. It’s not just your smile, but your teeth. They provide a much-needed glimpse into the reality of your well-being. So, how can you ensure that poor dental health doesn’t affect your health and turn that smile upside down? In this post, Professor Howard Gluckman, an internationally accomplished dentist, implantologist, educator, and author, shares his thoughts about the critical link between dental health and longevity.
Your Teeth and Longevity: What’s The Link?
“When a lot of people think of their teeth, they think of aesthetics. The key fact is that your teeth and your mouth are the beginning of everything that you have that’s going to make you healthy.” – Professor Howard Gluckman
“Your digestion, your chewability, your food. Everything that goes into your body, everything you digest, and everything you eat, requires teeth to be able to chew – to be able to function,” explains Professor Howard Gluckman, a dentist, implantologist, educator, and author.
Gluckman, who also holds a BDS and MCH PhD, further explains that adopting a specific diet, be it vegan or vegetarian, is heavily dependent on your ability to chew, and if you can’t chew properly, then you can’t exactly enjoy healthy foods like nuts, carrots and apples,
“You can certainly go and smooth everything up, but smoothing anything up is not the coolest way to eat anything. When it comes down to eating, part of enjoying the experience is the texture.”
With functional teeth, eating becomes a more enjoyable experience, for both yourself and those around you.
A pioneer in the field of dentistry, the seed of Gluckman’s dentistry journey may have been planted after spending some time with his grandfather, who had dentures,
“I’ll never forget sitting next to my grandfather when he was squelching with these dentures that were ill-fitting, which used to drive me nuts.”
Healthy and functional teeth are also necessary for better digestion
As Prof. Gluckman explains, digestion begins in the mouth because it is here that enzymes start with the breakdown of our food,
“There’s this whole concept of chewing 32 times, which is maybe a little bit overdone. However, chewing enough times ensures that you’re breaking the particles down so that your stomach can digest them and absorb the good nutrients.”
Therefore, one major gateway to longevity is having teeth that you can function with.
Dental health and chronic conditions
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), chronic conditions are responsible for 74% of all deaths globally. With that, you may be surprised to learn that poor dental health may be a major risk factor for these chronic conditions.
Take gum disease for instance, which affects 19% of the global adult population. Also known as peridontal disease, the WHO explains that gum disease affects the tissues that both surround and support the teeth. Its symptoms include bleeding or swollen gums (gingivitis), pain and sometimes bad breath. If that’s not enough, the WHO explains that in severe cases, the gum may even move away from the tooth and supporting bone, leading to loose teeth that sometimes fall out.
Despite the alarming facts, Prof. Gluckman shares that many people don’t really know about gum disease and how the condition can impact health. Also, most people don’t really know they have it until it’s too late, unless their dentist picks it up.
In explaining gum disease, Prof. Gluckman compares it to COVID-19, This is a disease whereby, if you have the wrong genetics, you end up with a massive inflammatory response which may potentially kill you,
“Gum disease is very much a similar type of disease, whereas if you have the wrong genetic code for that, the risk of you getting a much worse type of inflammatory disease is very much higher. These inflammatory mediators like COVID can also circulate throughout your body and can also have a massive impact,” dictates Gluckman,
“So, when we look at low birth weight preterm babies, women who are pregnant with gum disease are at high risk of low-birth-weight preterm babies.”
Teeth and heart health
Gluckman further explains that other aspects of this can include heart disease, ischemic heart disease, atherosclerosis – all of which are impacted upon by pathogens that cause bacteria and the inflammatory mediators that come from these bacteria and from the body’s response to these bacteria,
“Pneumonia, stroke, all of these factors are big factors that relate to gum disease and it’s something that people don’t really pay attention to.”
With that, Prof. Gluckman explains that as a periodontist, it’s very important for him to educate his patients about gum disease,
“We need to sit and talk about their genetic precursors, bacterial genotypes and the DNA types of bacteria that they have as these all have an impact on your general overall health.”
So, who is most at risk for gum disease?
Anyone and everyone
Granted, there are certain genetic subgroups of people with higher risks, but Gluckman adds that there are genetic tests that can help you confirm if you fall into this category. Additionally, there are modifiable risk factors that may influence your risk, such as being a smoker or living with diabetes,
“There’s a whole host of parameters that are co-founding factors that will impact your risk and make it either not so bad or something where you could literally lose your teeth within six months to a year.”
Healthy teeth for better sleep
I’m sure by now that we understand the importance of good sleep, especially because it’s been linked to an increased risk for chronic health issues like heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression.
With that, Prof. Gluckman touches on how advancements in better understanding dental health have led to the introduction of airway dentistry, which focuses on the structure of the mouth and how that impacts breathing.
“Understanding airways, sleep apnea, snoring, and how those things affect your longevity, is necessary, especially because sleep is vital to your longevity.”
Gluckman adds that dental experts understand the importance of having your teeth and jaw positioned in the right position. He adds that if you’re retrognathic, or if your jaws underdeveloped and your bottom jaw and your tongue are pushing at the back of your throat and you’re not breathing properly, this then increases the risk of sleep apnea, which affects your overall health.
About innovations in dentistry
1. Minimally invasive
Speaking on the advancements in dentistry, Prof. Gluckman shares that dental practitioners are now able to perform treatment more simply and they’ve made things more accessible to patients in a way that’s not as scary. Now, they’ve worked to do as little damage to a patient’s teeth as possible.
“In the old days, we used to just cut crowns and we would cut away so much of the tooth,” describes Gluckman, who reassures us that now dental practitioners are now adopting a style of dentistry that allows them to correct the tooth without having to cut off too much teeth,
“In understanding our technology, all of those factors are coming together and the ability to provide treatment for patients.”
Gluckman adds that the world of dentistry now offers bonding techniques where they have minimally invasive and minimal intervention, which means that less damage is being done to the tooth.
2. Dental implants
“Implants have probably been one of our biggest changes in the way that we treat teeth.”
While available in the 1960s, Prof. Gluckman shares that only in the past decade or so have dental practitioners better understood them, the processes and what it takes to do them properly, especially because having an implant is not just having an implant.
“Many people phone up and inquire about costs and other things, but we can’t really answer those questions over the phone because there’s so many factors that have to be taken into consideration when looking at them. Do you have enough bone? Or Do you have the right quality bone? Do you have enough soft tissue? Do you have good quality soft tissue? What is your medical health like?”
Elaborating on the benefits of dental implants, Prof. Gluckman brings up a person who may have full dentures who may then switch to implants:
“That’s fixed where they can now eat steak, eat chops, eat carrots. One of the most beautiful things to see is when you take a patient through that process and the first thing is they go for whatever they’ve been dying to have that they’re not able to eat. It’s a beautiful thing because it’s like your soul lights up.”
“So has it been a game changer? Without a doubt.”
The dental dangers of innovation
However, there is an area of innovative dentistry that worries Gluckman, who expresses that there is too much of a swing towards extracting teeth than there should be. He mentions how this is especially true in the United States, where healthy teeth are being taken out and being replaced by full arch implants, believing that this process has become a disease on its own,
“It’s for aesthetic purposes. People don’t understand or have the ability to do bone grafting or want to simplify treatment to a certain degree because grafting takes time and all of these things take time. Unfortunately, it’s a monetary thing and I think there’s a lot of ethics that have gone out the window in that regard.”
Additionally, we should also be concerned about at-home dental treatments. Many individuals are purchasing products, such as teeth bleaching products, from the internet to address dental concerns that have not been properly diagnosed.
“With these home bleaching things, what kind of peroxides have they got? Because peroxides can also be carcinogenic,” reveals Gluckman, “How much are you swallowing? Is it fitting correctly? How are you getting the impression there?”
With at-home dental products and treatments, there are so many potential problems and pitfalls that these products have and they can become a major dental issue to fix.
Turning 100 with a smile
As life expectancy continues to rise and people are finding ways to live for longer – or forever – one has to wonder if we’re going to make it to 100 with all our teeth intact.
The answer to this is not a simple one.
While scientists are finding ways to replace aspects of our bodies that may fade away with age, our teeth aren’t there yet,
“We are about 50 to 60 years from growing teeth in a petri dish,” states Gluckman. He further outlines that this is because scientists would be dealing with multiple different germ layers – the ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm – all of which work together to develop a tooth,
“Teeth are an interaction of all of these different layers and we don’t really understand how each one reacts.”
With that said, there are ways to ensure a healthy and bright smile at your 100th birth. This includes being conscious of your dietary habits and your risk for tooth decay and gum disease.
Additionally, implants may also serve to assist patients through to a certain age. The only limit may be their medical health and medical history,
“I think our technology is going to be way ahead of the curve of where we are now. You can expect that you’ll have teeth even till the day you die.”
The future of dentistry
In addition to his profession, Gluckman has also worked to grow and improve the dental practitioner community. Last month, he was awarded the 10th annual Morton Amsterdam Lifetime Award for teaching multidisciplinary dentistry by Dental XP. It was a well-deserved award as Gluckman developed the first private postgraduate training facility of its kind, serving as a co-founder and director of the Implant and Aesthetic Academy. The institution has been recognized by Stony Brook University and Dental XP as an accredited training facility.
Gluckman is a firm believer in the general dentist being able to provide a lot of care. This is because the minute you start upskilling that to specialist level, costs go up. So, his goal with the academy was to ensure that general dentists are able to provide all forms of treatment. Now, while they’re allowed to by the Health Professions Council of South Africa, there are some treatments and procedures that they’re not trained to do.
“It is our duty to make sure that they are able to do the procedures and treatments properly and that they get all the support that they need to be able to do it,” expresses Gluckman. He affirms that by doing this, more patients are then able to receive an advanced level of treatment.
Gluckman is also excited about the role that technology will play in the future of dentistry. He admits loving the idea of being a young dentist today because the existing technology has changed dentistry so much. However, that doesn’t mean that we need rely on computers and AI for healthier teeth,
“Robotics doesn’t make poor quality practitioners better. It gives somebody who has the right mindset and who has the right idea about providing quality care the ability to be way more predictable with everything that they do.”
Healthy teeth, healthy life
How well are you brushing your teeth? Well, if you multitask whilst brushing, then the answer is not well at all.
“I often tell my patients to take the time to watch how they brush in the mirror. Watch how you floss in the mirror,” advises Gluckman, “because if you do it this way, the chances are that you’re going to do it correctly and you’re not going to miss spots and do it much better than you would have the other way.”
So, we all know we have to brush our teeth twice a day and regularly floss. Yet, are there other ways to boost our teeth’s longevity?
“I think one of the key factors is seeing your hygienist,” divulges Gluckman,
“The hygienist is probably one of the most important parts of the chain as they really have the ability to pick up disease processes and things like that.”
So, how often to visit a dental hygienist? Well, this may depend on the state of your mouth.
As explained by Gluckman, if you eat a lot of sweets and have a high decay rate, you should be going every three months. If you’ve undergone reconstructive work, you should be seeing the hygienist, and possibly your surgeon or your dentist, every three months.
If you’ve got gum disease, Gluckman enforces that you should be seeing them every three months. These three months are critical to the redevelopment of gum disease.
However, if you’ve got perfect teeth and you really haven’t got things done or other dental concerns, then yearly might also be fine.
Watch this fascinating interview with Professor Howard Gluckman
View this post on Instagram
References
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (2022). What Are Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency? [online] www.nhlbi.nih.gov. Available at: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation.
World Health Organisation (2023). Noncommunicable Diseases. [online] World Health Organisation. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases.
World Health Organization (2023). Oral health. [online] World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/oral-health.
