Two years ago, Italian researchers studying a group of 88 heart patients and 88 people free of known heart disease established a strong link between a particularly virulent strain of h. pylori and heart disease. Other studies, however, have failed to show an association. Still, researchers think there is a connection. Exactly, how h. pylori causes heart disease is not known. One theory is that it causes platelets in the blood to clump together.
Platelets are tiny disk-shaped bodies that help stop bleeding when blood vessels are damaged.
While such an effect is beneficial when you cut your finger, it can be fatal when a coronary artery is involved. A number of studies have found that people with advanced gum disease are more likely to have heart disease than those with healthy gums. The theory is that lying under badly diseased gums are billions of bacteria that may migrate to coronary arteries through the blood stream, causing inflammation that leads to a heart attack. The dental bug porphyromonas gingivalis can make blood clot, and gum bacteria also have been found in coronary plaque. Deliargyris' study involved 38 men and women who had suffered a first heart attack and compared them to 38 control subjects who were free of heart disease.