This Bacterium Causes Arthritis – Cure in Sight

Chronic inflammatory gum disease and arthritis are more similar than many people realize, and researchers now think they may have found one of the main causes of both.

Scholars have understood for some time that people with arthritis are up to twice as likely to suffer from gum disease as their non-arthritic peers are.

They also know that people who have lost the most teeth because of gum disease tend to have the most severe cases of rheumatoid arthritis.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University now think they may have found the link between these two conditions.

They first examined gum samples of people with and without gum disease and arthritis, discovering that 50% of people with both these conditions had an abundance of a bacterium called A. actinomycetemcomitans.

In comparison, only 11% of people without these two conditions had this bacterium in their gums.

This opened up the possibility that this A. actinomycetemcomitans bacterium caused both gum disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

Next, they compared samples from the joints of people with arthritis with gum samples from people with gum disease, and found that an identical immune system process occurred in both affected locations, called hypercitrullination.

Hypercitrullination happens when the normal process that regulates the operations of proteins in your body becomes overactive.

The consequence of this hyperactivity is the buildup of something called citrullinated proteins.

Your immune system dislikes this buildup of citrullinated proteins, because it is not a normal biological process.

It accordingly responds by producing antibodies to attack and remove these proteins.

These antibodies cause inflammation that then attacks your gums (in gum disease) and/or your joints (in arthritis.)

As we’ve reported on in the past, inflammation is the culprit in so many adverse health issues. Correcting this kind of inflammation might be as easy as better brushing, regular dental cleanings, and higher quality of food.

Not all arthritis can be stopped by brushing better, though. To destroy arthritis inflammation completely, you need to take the 3-steps found here…