Avoid heart disease: brush your teeth

NVDL: Interestingly the stuff that accumulates on your teeth has the same terminology as the stuff that builds up in your arteries. That's right. Plaque. The thing with dirty teeth is you have a contunous process of poisoning (weakening) your body from the head down.

Brushing your teeth is good, but don't stop there. Doctor Oz on Oprah also recommends flossing. If you've ever flossed and picked up a pungent scent wafting through the bathroom, then you have a clue of just how much dirty rotten muck is sitting in your mouth, contaminating your body slowly over time.

Another tip - if you have sores in your mouth it's a good sign that your immunity is out of kilter, or that you're eating too much of a certain kind of food (junk food, spicy food, sugar-rich food).

clipped from news.yahoo.com Heart disease is the number one killer worldwide, claiming upward of 17 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. Smoking, obesity and high cholesterol are the most common culprits, but the new research shows that neglected gums can be added to the list. "We now recognize that bacterial infections are an independent risk factor for heart diseases," said Howard Jenkins of the University of Bristol in Britain, at a meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Dublin. "In other words, it doesn't matter how fit, slim or healthy you are, you're adding to your chances of getting heart disease by having bad teeth," the professor said.