What do your teeth and lungs have in common? They both can be affected by bacteria in your mouth — and the lungs suffer: It can lead to pneumonia, so says a new study that also shows the bacteria can be limited with regular teeth cleanings.

In the study, researchers the Virginia Commonwealth University studied the records of more than 26,000 people. They found that people who never had a dentist checkup were 86 percent more likely to get bacterial pneumonia than people who had dental checkups twice a year. "There is a well-documented connection between oral health and pneumonia, and dental visits are important in maintaining good oral health," Dr. Michelle Doll, the report's author, said in a report by WebMD. Doll is an assistant professor of internal medicine in the division of infectious disease at the university.

In short: Regular dental cleanings could lower your risk of pneumonia by reducing levels of the bacteria that causes the infection. "Our study provides further evidence that oral health is linked to overall health, and suggests that it's important to incorporate dental care into routine preventive health care," Doll concluded.

Each year, about 1 million Americans develop pneumonia, the researchers said, and 50,000 die from the disease, according to the report, presented in WebMD. Anyone can get pneumonia, but it is more common among older people and those with lung disease and conditions such as AIDS.

The results were to be presented Thursday Oct. 27, at IDWeek. IDWeek is the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.