A new study published in The Journals of Gerontology Series A finds that if you don't take care of your teeth, you are more likely to suffer inflammation, reduced brain size and damage to your heart. At first glance, this may seem like a reach — what do teeth have to do with the brain and heart? But as one of the researchers, Dr. Benjamin Trumble, told Salon, our culture errs when "the way we think about health is that we split the body into two parts," with the mouth in one category and everything else in the other.
In fact, the health of your mouth profoundly impacts other areas of your body. The scientists behind the recent paper learned this by examining more than 700 sets of teeth — all among members of a little-known South American tribe.
