When ignorance is not bliss

A Recent study published in the British Medical Journal says that inflammation of teeth and gums could lead to heart disease as the latter is an inflammatory process as well.

A Recent study published in the British Medical Journal says that inflammation of teeth and gums could lead to heart disease as the latter is an inflammatory process as well. It suggests that good oral hygiene in the form of brushing teeth twice a day and visiting the dentist every six months may help one avoid heart disease. No doubt,the clinical significance of this trial as far as general hygiene is concerned,is enormous and encourages us to adopt sensible sanitary measures,but it misses the very meaning that it tries to ascertain. In the process of finding the real cause behind heart disease,we may be relating almost every malady with the same. This usually happens when insufficient information is available for a common and extremely precarious disease.

* The irony of heart disease: Heart disease has multifactorial etiology,meaning that many factors are responsible for it. Apart from risk factors like smoking and diabetes,heart disease has also been associated with diagonal crease across the earlobe,getting bald due to hair loss and using cellphones. Many of these atypical risk factors have not been confirmed.

But since the truth has always eluded us,we tried to invent it by making apparently startling discoveries. The wealth of information gained over the years,thus,has made us more informed,but perhaps less wiser. The majority of heart attacks occur in people with normal cholesterol values. While certain populations like South Asians are at higher risk,others such as French and Eskimos are protected. There are exceptionally active octogenarians who have lived all their life on saturated fat but are free from heart disease and then,there are patients half their age with a disciplined lifestyle,who succumb to this disease. Despite the tremendous achievements science has made in the treatment modalities and prevention of this disease over the years,it still is the global number one killer.

* Directionless Discoveries: All scientific discoveries of the world are only consequential if they enhance our understanding of the disease . New innovations may be of no practical and useful application. The greatest irony about heart disease is that that we are still not aware about its exact cause and pathobiology. The enormous volume of literature that had been written explaining the reasons for heart disease actually prove our ignorance of the subject. If we really knew the precise reasons for the disease,there would be no need to write these texts in the first place. It is true that once we know a lot,we also begin to know that there is a lot which we do not know. It would be apt to conclude that if a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,then extensive but incomplete knowledge is lethal.

The writer is an interventional senior consultant cardiologist at INSCOL Hospital ,Chandigarh and Fortis Hospital ,Mohali

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