What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the joints, leading to their inflammation and causing redness, warmth, swelling, and pain within the joint. These symptoms are produced as a consequence of the thickening of the lines inside of joints (synovium) produced due to the inflammation. It’s important to remark that synovium makes a fluid that helps the joints to move smoothly.
Rheumatoid arthritis is different from other types of arthritis because it affects joint on both sides of the body, for example, booth knees, both ankles, both elbows, both hands, and both wrists.
But this chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect more than just your joints.The skin, the lungs, blood, nerves, eyes, and skin can be also affected by this disease denominated as systemic due to its capability to affect the entire body.
The Link Between Rheumatoid Arthritis And Gum Disease
In another hand, gum disease is an inflammation of the gum line that has three different stages, gingivitis, periodontitis and advanced periodontitis, wich is the most severe stage of this disease. In a progressed stage this diseases could affect the bone that gives support to your teeth.
Researchers have discovered that Rheumatoid Arthritis, a disease that affects the joints, has a connection with gum disease, which is an oral health issue that affects the gums and the bones that support the teeth.
Some studies indicate that people with rheumatoid arthritis tend to have more gum disease and with gum disease tend to have more rheumatoid arthritis. Also, the studies suggest that gum disease can be more severe in people with RA.
These studies point that there is clearly a connection between periodontal disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis, but there’s not a good prove yet that indicates which disease causes the other one.
For some specialist, the gum disease can be produced by Rheumatoid Arthritis as a result of the pain in the hands, a characteristic sign from RA, and wich could lead to a difficult to brush the teeth and floss properly, affecting the good oral hygiene.
There is also the belief that Rheumatoid Arthritis causes gum disease. The reason is that the medication used to treat this systemic disease, suppress the immune system and leaves the body defenseless to fight to harmful bacteria in the mouth. But some studies prove that the poor hygiene and medications are not always the reason why Rheumatoid Arthritis leads to gum disease. But some studies prove that the poor hygiene and medications are not always the reason why Rheumatoid Arthritis leads to gum disease. In fact, there are researchers that indicate that sometimes gum disease comes before the apparition of RA.
In conclusion, it is evident that there’s a connection between Rheumatoid Arthritis and gum disease, even though the causes and which disease comes after the other is still an incognito unresolved. So, if you have gum disease or Rheumatoid Arthritis you must be careful and visit your dentist regularly, avoid smoking, and keep a good oral hygiene.
