Did you know that your dental hygiene is an important contributing factor to your overall health? Many people often don’t understand the correlation; however, the truth is that dental hygiene—and oral health in general—offer many clues about your overall health.
In fact, if you have poor dental hygiene, problems that arise from this can even affect the rest of your body and health. That is why it’s important to have regular dental examination at least every 6 months to keep your overall dental hygiene up to scratch.
So, let’s get to the point: Why is dental hygiene so important to overall health?
Just like the rest of your body, your mouth is full of bacteria—don’t worry, most of them are harmless. However, because your mouth serves as the entrance to both your digestive and respiratory tracts, some of these bacterias could cause certain types of diseases.
Proper dental hygiene, such as daily brushing and flossing, serves as a sort of defence mechanism from bacteria causing diseases. As such, a lack of proper dental hygiene can allow bacteria to accumulate and cause oral infections like tooth decay or, worse, gum disease.
Moreover, saliva also serves an important role in protecting your overall health. This is because saliva has the ability to help neutralise acids that are produced by bacteria in the mouth, which can eliminate the multiplication of microbes that can cause disease.
There are various conditions that could be linked to your oral health. Some of these diseases include the following:
1). Endocarditis
Endocarditis is the infection of the inner lining of both your heart chambers or valves. It is known to occur when bacteria or germs originating from other parts of your body, such as your mouth, travel through your bloodstream and accumulate in areas of your heart.
2). Cardiovascular disease
Though the connection between oral health and cardiovascular disease is not yet fully determined, some research suggests that some cardiovascular diseases, along with clogged arteries and strokes, could be caused by infections from oral bacteria.
3). Pneumonia
Bacteria from the mouth could lead down to your lungs, which may cause pneumonia and other related respiratory diseases.
Other types of disease that can be linked to infections starting in the mouth include:
In turn, there are also health conditions that could affect your oral health. Some of these include:
1). Diabetes
Many diabetes patients have been known to have various gum diseases. This is because diabetes lowers the body’s resistance to infection, which means that your gums may be susceptible to gum disease.
2). HIV/AIDS
A common oral condition among HIV/AIDS includes mucosal lesions, which is known to be a painful oral condition.
3). Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a bone-weakening disease that is known to be linked with both periodontal bone loss and tooth loss. Drugs that treat osteoporosis can potentially present a small risk of damage to the bones of the jaw.
Given that we understand how oral health and overall health are connected together, you might be wondering how you can maintain good dental hygiene. Well, here are some examples that you can follow:
Regular visits to the dentist are typically important because your dentist can detect whether you may have further problems and conditions. During their examination, they would be able to detect the following:
As such, always trust your dentist, because they will make sure to conduct a thorough examination to make sure that you remain happy and healthy.
As we can see from the above, there are actually a number of health conditions that can affect our overall health if we have poor oral hygiene and don’t look after our teeth and gums. If you are ever in doubt, you should consult with your dentist immediately.
If you are searching for a dental clinic in the Cranbourne area for a general check-up, cleaning or any other dental procedure, then look no further than Shine Dental Group.
Shine Dental Group offers a full array of dental services to help you and your family maintain healthy teeth and are a trusted and reliable dentist in Cranbourne.
To learn more about our services or make an appointment, please contact us today on (03) 5995 9789.
We strive for 100% customer satisfaction. If we fell short, please tell us more so we can address your concerns.