“Our data shows a clear statistical link between gum disease and heart disease in dogs,” said Larry Glickman, a professor of epidemiology,…For his research, Glickman examined records of 59,296 dogs with gum disease and matched them to those of a similar number of dogs without gum problems. He followed the dogs over time to see which ones developed heart diseases and the type of heart disease that developed. He then did statistical tests to see if the incidence of heart disease would increase as the severity of the gum disease increased.”