How Your Oral Health Affects Your Overall Health

You may be aware you must brush twice daily and floss once, but do you know the practices are not just to clean your teeth to keep your smile pearly white? If your dentist emphasizes keeping your mouth healthy, it is essential to maintaining your overall health and well-being.

Your oral health is associated with your entire body, indicating that problems with your teeth and gums resulting other health conditions like heart disease, stroke, et cetera. Periodontists explain the association between oral health and your entire body, including how best to practice excellent dental hygiene.

Why Does Your Oral Health Matter?

If you think your mouth is unrelated to your body, you must start thinking differently. It helps if you ask your dentist about the importance of oral hygiene in daily life to understand the association between your oral health and general health. The response of your dentist will likely be it is purely for insurance purposes, although the policies are not interlinked.

In reality, you must consider your mouth an extension of your body because an oral surgeon near you can determine what’s wrong with your body by looking at your mouth.

If you don’t maintain proper dental hygiene, you can develop dental health conditions like gingivitis when bacteria inflame your gums to start the early stage of gum disease.

If left untreated, gingivitis progresses to periodontal disease. This infection results in infected gums and bone loss. It loosens your teeth to need attention from an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Toronto, ON, to help restore bone and regenerate tissue. Conditions from untreated tooth decay result in aggravated cavities needing intensive treatments like root canals.

What Happens If You Don’t Maintain Oral Hygiene Correctly?

Besides, becoming a victim of discolored teeth and lousy breath or oral hygiene contributes to many health issues affecting your entire body. Some of the most crucial among them are listed below for your reference:

Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease refers to a set of disorders related to your heart and the blood vessels. If you maintain don’t your oral hygiene, it becomes associated with different forms of cardiovascular diseases, such as:

• Coronary Heart Disease: the most common form of coronary heart disease results in heart attacks, heart failure, et cetera, becoming the leading cause of fatalities in America.
• Clogged Arteries: periodontal disease significantly increases the risk of higher rates of atherosclerosis because the plaque on your teeth and gums can also clog the blood vessels delivering blood and oxygen from the heart to your body.
• Stroke: a strong association between periodontal disease and strokes reveals studies specifically mentioning atherosclerosis-related strokes.

Although cardiovascular disease and periodontal disease are associated, sufficient evidence to confirm whether each condition is responsible for the other doesn’t exist.

Endocarditis

If you are affected by heart disease or other related issues, your risks of vulnerability to developing endocarditis increase. In some cases, endocarditis is an inflammation of your heart valve lining and chambers. Endocarditis results from a bacterial infection that might affect you when undergoing procedures like tooth extractions. Endocarditis generally affects healthy hearts, but the condition can be fatal if you have heart issues.

Pregnancy and Birth Complications

Pregnancy is not a reason to neglect your mouth or body because pregnancy, coupled with poor oral health, can result in fetal growth restriction, gestational diabetes, low birth weight, miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, and premature birth. Here again, the medical fraternity thinks your oral bacteria travels through your bloodstream to harm your fetus.

Pneumonia

Cavities on your teeth are associated with developing pneumonia, a lung infection caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Doctors think your mouth bacteria aspirates into the upper airway to your lungs to cause pneumonia. The condition also makes it easier for the bacteria to cause respiratory infections sticking to your lungs.

If you have ever wondered why oral health is important, the reasons mentioned above should convince you to pay attention to your oral health because it can cause many conditions that need treatments from different medical professionals at high prices.

What Adversely Affects Your Oral Health?

Many factors contribute to the long-term effects of poor oral hygiene. Gum disease and systemic disorders share many familiar risk factors, including a diet high in sugar, tobacco use, excessive alcohol use, and high stress. This can cause periodontal disease or cavities and other systemic health disorders. Therefore, if you are affected by one of these conditions, you might have other related health problems.

How to Maintain Excellent Oral Health?

Maintaining excellent oral health requires brushing your teeth twice daily, flossing once, and seeing your dentist every six months for exams and cleanings. You can also include mouthwash and interdental brushes to help keep your gums and teeth in prime condition. In addition, you must manage other health issues while making an appointment with a periodontist to evaluate your gum health and maintain an overall healthy lifestyle.

Leaving your dental issues untreated impacts your overall health, making it incredibly essential to care for your teeth and mouth.

Toronto East Maxillofacial Surgery emphasizes keeping your overall health optimal to benefit your overall health. If your oral health isn’t in prime shape, consult them to determine the adverse effects of your situation and make improvements to your dental health without delay.