A growing body of research is confirming that the bacteria that infect our gums may well be the cause of many cases of arthritis.
Dentistry researchers from Germany’s Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg recently analyzed the synovial fluid of 42 patients – average age of 54 years old – with rheumatoid arthritis. They compared this information with 114 control subjects around the same age who had no arthritis and no other rheumatoid conditions.
The synovial fluid is the fluid within the joint capsule, which will typically contain inflammatory components relating to the arthritis. The researchers analyzed the synovial fluid for DNA that matched the genome of oral bacteria – specifically Porphyromonas gingivalis – the bacteria most known to be at the root of most gingivitis infections.