You’re probably heard this before, but your dental health actually does play a part in your overall health. I know that your dentist is the healthcare professional that you try to remember to visit every six months for a check up and cleaning so it may not seem as though something like your teeth can affect your entire health, but it can. In fact not just your teeth but your mouth in general tells you a lot about your health and plays a big role in how your body functions and performs.
Your mouth contains more than just your teeth. It contains bacteria that causes all sorts of diseases. These diseases, if not taken care, of could cause issues like gum disease on top of other things that may occur. Because of the effect that your oral health can have on your overall health it?s important that you make sure that you?re taking care of yourself to include your mouth and everything that?s in it.
I know that it may seem crazy to think about the fact that your mouth could cause issues with the rest of your body because it?s not something that we really think about outside of when it?s time for us to visit the dentist. But, when you think about it, when your mouth is open you are giving germs direct access to enter your body because it?s a place for them to enter.?
To help shed some light on the issues that may arise if you don?t take care of your oral health, I wanted to give you an idea of issues that you could avoid by taking care of your oral health:
- Cardiovascular Issues: Gum disease, which is often what happens when you don?t focus on your oral health as you should, could potentially cause cardiovascular issues with your heart. Due to the bacteria that enters your mouth when you have gum disease this can get into your bloodstream and this could lead to issues with your heart.
- Diabetes Issues: Gum disease, if not controlled, can cause those with diabetes to experience more issues such as tooth loss, kidney issues, and even blindness.
- Respiratory Issues: The American Academy of Periodontology states that new research shows that gum disease could cause respiratory infections such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pneumonia. Both of these come with their own nasty set of complications to your body and health.
As you can imagine any disease within your body has the potential to cause issues other that the ones that you are already currently experiencing. So, I hope that this list is very eye opening for you and that you?re now seriously starting to take a look at how your oral health has been affecting your overall health and some changes that you need to make in how you?re taking care of your mouth and your oral health.
You can start by making sure that you?re seeing your dentist on a regular basis and that when issues or pain does arise that you contact your healthcare professional as soon as possible and don?t let things linger.
In fact, this is good advice for every area of your health. It?s better to know what?s going on right when things are occurring rather than letting them linger.
