Fast Facts - Perio Edition Episode 33
[Andrew Johnston, RDH]
Welcome back, everyone. You are listening to another episode of Fast Facts- Perio Edition brought to you by A Tale of Two Hygienists in partnership with DentistRX. And now, please welcome your host, Katrina Sanders.
[Katrina Sanders, RDH]
Welcome back! This week we're going to unpack weird facts and this is coming to us from a study from Genesis publications. This weird fact is kind of an interesting postulation, if you will. This study, entitled The covid-19 Pathway, proposes the fact that there could be an alternative route of sars-cov-2 infection. And the reason why we're unpacking this is because if this postulated study is accurate, this could truly elevate the importance of oral health care measures when it comes to optimizing the health, wellness and vitality of our community, during the sars-cov-2 and covid-19 outbreak. Of note, there's been a lot of research looking at the fact that some individuals who are otherwise healthy and were lacking specific biomarkers for severe lung disease ended up experiencing advanced signs, stages or symptoms of covid-19. We've seen, for example, that saliva is a reservoir for sars-cov-2 and in fact, we've started to even see certain states integrating salivary testing to identify if an individual is presenting with sars-cov-2. We know that any breach to immune defenses of the mouth can permit various types of bacteria and viruses to enter our blood vessels, particularly if we notate that the cellular epithelium is ulcerated.
This oral vasculature, however, could provide an opportunity for the sars-cov-2 virus to pass from the oral cavity through the vasculature of our sulcus, through our veins of the head, neck and chest, potentially reaching the heart and then subsequently being pumped into pulmonary arteries as well as the small vessels within our lung periphery. Why is this a concern? Well, because we've been looking at the fact that the sars-cov-2 virus itself is able to bind into angiotensin converting enzyme 2 receptors.
What that truly means for us is that we have all of these massive open portals or open doorways on the endothelial surface of our lung vessels that allow for the virus to latch on. And this study believes that there could be vascular congestion of this particular virus. Essentially sars-cov-2 could be entering our blood vessels from the mouth. And when that sars-cov-2 enters the blood vessels from the mouth, that virus could be circulating and therefore readily thriving within our lungs. Stay tuned, of course, as we continue to learn more about the impact of sars-cov-2 being readily expressed in oral tissues and salivary flow and know that as we continue to unpack this information, you can trust your trusty Fast Facts: Perio Edition podcaster to keep you up to speed on all of the newest details. Have a great week and we'll see you next week.
This has been another episode of Fast Facts - Perio Edition with Katrina Sanders, RDH. Please feel free to reach me on Instagram @thedentalwinegenist or on my website www.KatrinaSanders.com Cheers.
[Andrew Johnston, RDH]
Thank you for listening to another episode of Fast Facts - Perio Edition, brought to you in part by DentistRX makers of the InteliSonic line of power brushes. Find out more by visiting their website at www.dentistrx.com. We'll see you next week for another Fast Fact!
