The Last Bite

Perio pillow talk

What a fantastic piece of news with which to kick off 2013, that at last we can legitimately use sex as a motivator in oral health education. Well, for some patients anyway. Research in Turkey has revealed that in men aged 30- 40, 53 per cent with erectile dysfunction had inflamed gums compared with 23 per cent in the control group. So the message is clear, clean your teeth and gums or risk actually having to answer some of those email spam messages from overseas pharmacies.

Although the results were adjusted for factors such as age, body mass index, household income and education level, the men with severe periodontal disease were 3.29 times more likely to suffer from erection problems than men with healthy gums. While I don’t doubt the outcomes I can’t help making the connection between gum disease and bad breath and wondering if the ‘partners’ were so put off by the men’s halitosis that the whole deal just didn’t get going in the first place. It certainly brings a whole new meaning to pocket depth measurement.