Love Your Gums!
Treating gum disease can actually reduce the severity of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.
Arthritis sufferers may soon be jumping for joy. Yes—in case you needed another reason to nip gum disease in the bud, researchers are demonstrating a link between periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The good news is, treating gum disease can go beyond creating a healthy foundation for your teeth and actually reduce the severity of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.
It makes sense. In both diseases, unchecked inflammation eats away at hard and soft tissues. So scientists studied whether the condition of arthritis patients who also had periodontal disease might be improved using nonsurgical treatment of gum disease—just standard scaling and root planing. They discovered that removing infection and inflammation from the gums reduced arthritic pain and stiffness.
In a new study the same researchers divided patients with both RA and periodotitis into four groups. Two groups received anti-inflammation medicine, and the other two did not. Half the members of each group were treated for their gum disease, while the others were not.
The anti-inflammatory medication together with the periodontal therapy provided the most improvement. Therapy without the medication still brought improvement, but the medicine without the therapy had no significant effect. While researchers believe these drugs may help to treat gum disease, so far it appears that preventing periodontitis provides benefits to arthritis sufferers as well as preventing many other diseases.
Dr. Angela Burns moved to Austin 10 years ago and instantly fell in love with our beautiful city. Dr. Burns is originally from the Texarkana area. She attended Texas A&M for her undergraduate degree and The University of Tennessee Health Science Center for her degree in dental surgery (DDS). Dr. Burns is committed to providing her patients with gentle, technologically advanced dental treatment. She attends an average of 60 hours of continuing education every year. She is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, the Texas Dental Association, and the Capital Area Dental Society. Dr. Burns and her husband, Gary, have an 11-year-old daughter, Sydney, who is a proud 6th grader at Hill Country Middle School. She is also very involved in the Eanes PTO, her church, and loves raising her family in the Westlake community. “Growing up, I was drawn to mediating and helping others feel more included and less anxious. I was a camp counselor, student government officer and being the oldest of five, I was the family mediator. I found that I had a calling to help alleviate stressful situations for others and realized that being a good listener was something that was key to this. These skills really helped guide me into becoming a dentist that has based my practice on relationships, empathy and a sense of comfort. I knew that I wanted to provide an atmosphere that felt like home when others walked in. Our practice is small, personal and state of the art and we hope you feel like you’re hanging out with friends when you are here!” When she is not practicing dentistry, Dr. Burns enjoys traveling, hiking the greenbelt, enjoying Austin’s music scene, and eating Amy’s Ice Cream.
