A study tells us that ‘changes in oral microbes may lead to gum disease, heart problems, and cancer.’

Whilst we all know the most well known problems that come along with alcohol, and alcohol addiction especially, such as liver failure and other health risks, new research shows that drinking alcohol can imbalance your oral bacteria and make yourself more prone at risk for a variety of diseases.

Depending on how many units of alcohol you drink per day/week, this can impact your oral microbes which can then lead on to further serious worries, such as gum infection, cancer or cardiovascular disease.  To prove this a study from a NYC Professor claimed “Particularly, we found that beneficial bacteria disappeared, and several inflammatory bacteria contents increased in heavy alcohol drinkers.”.

This is why it is important to know your limits on alcohol and not to binge drink! In 2017, among those who had drink alcohol 27% were classed as binge drinkers in the week before being interviewed for a study. That is 16% of all adults aged 16 or over in Great Britain.  For men this was defined as eight units or more on the heaviest drinking day and six units or more for women.

It is important that you evaluate how much you drink and decide whether you are within the health and safety regulation for units, or if you are drinking far too heavily against the advised consumption! In the long term this can reduce your visits to the dentist and ultimately, the main factor, prevent any ongoing issues in the future such as cancer, cardiovascular disease or any other problems that come with excessive drinking!