Basic oral hygiene for better vision

If oral hygiene can be significantly linked to glaucoma, it will provide another tool in the battle against vision loss.

Quite awhile back, I came across an article in the Optometry Times called: “How Oral and Dental Hygiene Plays a Role in Glaucoma,” by Benjamin P. Casella, OD, FAAO. More recently, I came across another article entitled: “Keep Up Oral Hygiene for Better Sight,” by the Review of Optometry staff.

Now might be a good time to update my own article because, interestingly enough, Casella’s article talks about a possible link between our “oral biome” (or mouth bacteria – the good, the bad, and the ugly) and one of the more severe ocular diseases, glaucoma.

Citing a case-control study (where 119 case subjects with primary open-angle glaucoma and 78 control subjects without glaucoma were tested), researchers found that the case group “had fewer remaining natural teeth than the control group,” which suggests that “having more natural teeth may indicate a lesser chance of having glaucoma.”

Casella goes on to say, “Further investigational studies regarding a relationship between oral and dental hygiene and the incidence of glaucoma need to take place. If such a relationship exists, and was found to be at all causal in nature, then we as ODs would have something specific to help us guide our patients—other than just advocating for routine physicals and an overall healthy lifestyle.”

He also states, “Such insights into the potential causes of glaucoma on a cellular/molecular level may have the potential to lead to novel concepts in highly targeted, and highly individualistic, glaucoma therapies in the future.”

More recent news implicates AMD

(Advanced Macular Degeneration)

The more recent article from the Review of Optometry states: “Researchers recently analyzed the potential (of gingivitis) association with early biomarkers of degenerative retinal conditions in patients without eye disease.”

The results came back with “A total of 4.3% reporting very severe gum disease, and these individuals were found to be statistically significantly older and living in areas of greater socioeconomic deprivation, and also more likely to have hypertension or diabetes and currently smoke.”

To make a long story short, the study concluded that recommending oral hygiene “may hold additional relevance” for individuals at risk for AMD.

Making a Connection?

Obviously more research needs to be done, but this is quite an interesting topic nonetheless. Let’s face it, staying on top of oral hygiene is an extremely important aspect of our health. In fact, most oral care professionals (just like eye doctors) will get a pretty clear handle on the overall health of a person through examining their mouths (just like the eyes).

As far as the eyes are concerned, eye care professionals always welcome more information regarding the causes of glaucoma and the detection of it. However, the disease is still very much a mystery but we’re all working together to change that.

Risk factors for glaucoma include:

Family history
Trauma
Increased eye pressure
Increased cup to disc ratio (regarding size of the optic nerve)
Systemic diseases (e.g. diabetes)