364: Dr. Kevin Boehm Explains Why Your Gum Health Impacts Your Heart

Written on May 27, 2010
LLVLC-ep-364

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Hello and welcome back to The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore!

Today Jimmy shares his conversation with dentist Kevin Boehm, DDS. Dr. Boehm specializes in holistic dentistry, or how the mouth and the rest of the body influence the health of each other. Listen in for facts such as arterial plaque has been found to largely consist of fossilized cells of mouth bacteria, the influence that nutrition-based dentist Weston A. Price had on this subject, the importance of Co-Q-10, and much more!

LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 364
- Dr. Kevin Boehm bio
- Wheaton Family Dentistry
- ChicagoHealers.com
- “Your Heart Health And Gum Disease” by Dr. Kevin Boehm
- Find research on gum disease/heart health at American Academy of Periodontology (AAP)

Alternative Medicine, Disease, Health Care Providers, heart, Low-Carb Lifestyle
9 Comments - Leave a comment!
  • http://www.180degreehealth.com Matt Stone

    Thanks for having a dentist on Jimmy. Without question some of the most interesting information I’ve come across in all my studies is the work done by Weston A. Price that pre-dated Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, in which he showed conclusively that altered oral flora was responsible from everything from lung problems to heart problems to kidney disease – traveling from inside the dentin tubules (from dental decay) into the circulatory system (focal point infection).

    Look for a great post on this coming up in a couple weeks. It will be a great complement to this podcast.

    Thanks again to you and Dr. Boehm.

  • http://diabeticmediterraneandiet.com Steve Parker, M.D.

    Dr. Boehm mentions fossilized bacteria in the plaque of coronary arteries. By plaque of coronary arteries I mean clogged heart arteries.

    I like to think I stay up to date on coronary artery disease, but I’ve never heard of such a thing. Either I need to do more science literature reading and learning, or Dr. B is wrong.

    -Steve

  • http://lowcarbbetterhealth.blogspot.com Rebecca

    Listening to this interview has really helped me decide to get serious again about dental health. As Dr. Boehm explains, the health of our mouth impacts so many other aspects of health. This is not the first time that I have heard information about dental health impacting other areas of health. I’m not sure where I read it, but I recently read about gum disease being a cause of inflammation in the body, which is now being studied as a major cause of all types of diseases.

  • http://www.nourishingbyheart.com Gina

    This was a trip down memory lane for me Jimmy! It was over 40 years ago I saw Dr Penny, DDS in Syracuse, NY and I was instructed to take vitamin C for my bleeding gums! This was the start of my nutrition research …using my body as the subject.
    Having mitral valve prolapse I was instructed on the gums being an entry point for bacteria that could harm the heart.
    It is a blessing you had this podcast as I’m sure it is news to many. Very important new to be sure.
    Thanks Jimmy!

  • vargas

    Some of the most interesting research on health I have heard have to do with gum and teeth health. i think this aspect is often overlooked. Thanks Jimmy for this great and informative interview.

  • Linda Chase

    Jimmy, in the interview, you say that since Vitamin C is water soluble, excess amounts will simply be dumped out in the urine. Clearly you have not self-treated mononucleosis or other viral problems with massive doses of Vitamin C. If you had, you would know that the method is to increase the amount until you get diarrhea, then back down a little. Informally, it is called “titrating to bowel tolerance.” (http://www.orthomed.com/titrate.htm) Since we don’t have embedded microsensors that measure levels of substances in our blood that we are interested in (for example, Vit D & C, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, blood glucose, blood insulin levels, leptin, etc.) and then would transmit info to a database on our computers, we are fortunate in at least having a window, of sorts, for tracking levels of Vit C. As many sources will point out, when the body is stressed it needs much more Vit C than when at rest, so the amount a person takes will fluctuate. The general procedure is to find an individual’s bowel tolerance when healthy and expect to retest when disease or other stress to the body hits. The amount your body can absorb at that time before allowing excess to pass out through the bowel (causing the diarrhea) will increase astonishingly!

  • http://stepsfl.com health

    steps for life, one of them is take care your health

  • Tom

    this is really fascinating. I was not aware that gum health and heart health were linked.

  • Stephane

    I’m sure gum health is an indicator of health but i don’t think we can explain all by dental health as Weston A. Price himself died of a heart attack…





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