Your mouth can tell you a lot about your overall health. Troubled teeth and gums are not always just a dental problem. Sometimes they indicate deeper issues, and dentists are increasingly picking up the clues.

“We look around the mouth and we look for color changes. We’re looking for certain smells. Spots around the gums,” said Washington dentist Joseph Kravitz.

The relation of oral health to the rest of the body has increased attention in recent years, spurred by such experts as Richard H Carmona, who as the US Surgeon General urged policy-makers in 2003 to “increase the understanding of how the signs and symptoms of oral infections can indicate general health status and act as a marker for other diseases.” The publicity reminded a lot of dentists that their jobs were not just about root canals and fillings, and it educated the public, Kravitz said.

Following are some non-oral-health issues and the possible clues Kravitz says dentists may be able to identify:

Heart disease

Gums that have turned a “bright beefy red” or purple. Kravitz checks his patients’ blood pressure when he notices those symptoms

Type 2 diabetes

Gums that bleed at the slightest touch although there is no plaque evident. Kravitz said patients with diabetes also typically have sores elsewhere on their bodies that they may not have connected to the disease

Kidney disease

A sweet ammonia smell on a person’s breath, detectable even from behind a dentist’s surgical mask

Acid reflux

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