Oral hygiene is closely related to cardiovascular health.
Recently, a study of nearly 10,000 people from my country's Guizhou Province found that brushing your teeth frequently can reduce the risk of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, and brushing your teeth at least twice a day may help prevent these two diseases.
Multivariate analysis showed that over a mean follow-up period of 6.6 years, those who brushed their teeth at least twice a day had a 45% and 35% lower risk of developing high blood pressure and diabetes, respectively, compared with those who brushed little, and those who brushed once a day The risk of developing high blood pressure was also reduced by 23%.
After excluding people with less than 2 years of follow-up, those who brushed their teeth at least twice a day still had a 46% and 36% lower risk of high blood pressure and diabetes, respectively, compared with those who never brushed.
Moreover, frequent brushing has a more significant effect on reducing the risk of hypertension in Han nationality and urban residents.
It is worth mentioning that research shows that residents under the age of 60 who do not have high blood pressure are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if they do not brush their teeth regularly.
It is understood that the study included 9,280 adults from Guizhou Province from 2010 to 2012 and was followed up until 2020.
Among these people, about 13% brushed their teeth infrequently, and 28% brushed their teeth more than once a day; the average age was 44.5 years, 47.5% were women, 66.6% were rural residents, and 58.7% were Han nationality.
During a median follow-up of 6.6 years, 1215 developed hypertension and 767 developed type 2 diabetes.
Text / Yang Jingang
(Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences)