Signs of silent killer that should never be ignored - from bad breath to nausea

16 June 2023 , 15:35

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Signs of silent killer that should never be ignored - from bad breath to nausea

One person in the UK dies every three minutes from a deadly condition that can be caused by bacteria found in the mouth.

This bacteria leads to bad breath and gum disease, with doctors stressing neither of these symptoms should be ignored.

Gum disease, particularly, can become extremely dangerous if left untreated and cause heart and circulatory diseases which can kill.

According to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), there are currently around 7.6 million people in the UK living with a heart or circulatory disease which causes more than 160,000 deaths every year.

The condition is the cause of around 100,000 hospital admissions each year due to heart attacks - with one every five minutes on average.

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Bad breath may be a symptom (Getty Images)

Chest pain, stomach pain, feeling sick and feeling sweaty are also signs of heart disease, and these should also be checked, doctors say.

Dr Karolin Hijazi, at the University of Aberdeen, said: "It’s completely normal and healthy to have bacteria in your mouth.

"But what we don’t understand is how they can shift from being completely harmless ‘good’ bacteria, to ones that cause gum disease and are linked to heart attacks."

She told BHF some bacteria in the mouth can become bad and infect the gums, causing inflammation and bleeding.

If left untreated this can cause inflammation of the parts which connect our teeth to the underlying bone, she warned.

Heart disease is linked to gum health, and bleeding of the gums should be flagged to your GP (Getty Images)

Medics advise us to visit our GP should we become concerned we have any of these symptoms.

Coronary heart disease (also known as ischaemic heart disease) is the most common type of heart disease.

It is the most common cause of heart attack and was the single biggest killer of both and men and women worldwide in 2019.

But approximately 1.4 million people alive in the UK today have survived a heart attack.

"Along with medical advances and lifestyle changes, the British Heart Foundation’s pioneering research has helped to halve annual deaths from heart and circulatory diseases in the UK," the charity says on its website.

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"However, these conditions still kill around one in four people in the UK.

"Statistics are very important to the British Heart Foundation. They represent the scale of the burden of heart and circulatory disease in the UK and the challenges we face."

Eliza Brandreth