If we want to increase the chances of falling pregnant and produce a child that is as healthy as possible, it makes sense that both the male and female are as healthy as can be. So, this begs the question: can fertility in men be affected by poor oral health?
The answer is a definitive YES, says Dr. Lewis Ehrlich of Sydney Holistic Dental Centre. This may come as a shock to many of us, as the mouth is so often seen in isolation from the rest of the body. However, as time passes we are seeing so many connections between the way that your oral health affects your general health.
Let’s take gum disease to illustrate this point. Gum disease, which is one the most common diseases worldwide, is linked to conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer (just to name a few). The common denominator in all of these health conditions is chronic inflammation. This is extremely harmful to our health, and it turns out our gums (if we are not looking after them) are one of the most common sites for chronic inflammation in the body. Downscaling inflammation must be one of the goals if we are talking about fertility and avoiding difficulties with conception.
A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology has shown that high levels of plaque and bleeding gums are a risk factor for poor sperm motility (their ability to swim), and a reduced sperm count. To make matters even worse for our manhood, a recent study in the Journal Of Human Reporductive Science has shown a clear correlation between chronic gum disease and erectile dysfunction.
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