How oral health affects your whole body When we refer to a healthy oral cavity, we are not limited only to having healthy teeth, but to all the anatomical structures of the mouth: gums, bones, ligaments, muscles, glands or nerves.
Otherwise, unhealthy teeth can have a significant impact on the overall health of the body, quality of life and, last but not least, high financial costs, if the teeth are not prevented or resolved from the moment they appear.
How oral health affects your whole body:
What is the relationship between oral health and the health of the whole body?
According to a report done by Healthy People 2020, oral health is one of the 10 most important indicators of health, along with others such as access to health, nutrition, cancer, HIV and heart disease.
Good oral health plays not only a functional role (such as speaking, smiling, smelling, or chewing), but also plays a pretty important role in communication, personal relationships, and financial prosperity.
In turn, poor dental health can have serious consequences, such as painful, disabling and costly conditions. This is especially true for those with low incomes in rural areas with limited access to quality health care.
According to a study conducted in the United States, one in five adults reported that their teeth are in a precarious condition, and one in three people have difficulty finding a job because of the unsightly appearance of their teeth.
How do you take care of your dental health?
There are many factors that affect our oral health, such as nutrition and oral health. For example, tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood, but it can be easily prevented by healthy eating habits and good oral hygiene.
Otherwise, if we do not follow these minimum healthy habits, such as brushing our teeth daily, morning and evening, for at least two minutes and avoiding foods and drinks rich in sugar and acids, we will build up an extra layer of plaque on the teeth, and this is a favorable environment for the emergence of cavities, gingivitis or other chronic periodontal disease, all of this can put the health of the teeth and gums at risk, including the health of the whole body.
Although there are currently innovative ways to treat cavities with, an advance prevention has always been the best solution. If you have hypodontia, you have probably read approx. Experts say it is the only remedial solution that replaces one or more missing teeth and completely restores the functionality and aesthetics of a smile.
What diseases can bad health cause
The condition of the teeth, gums and tongue is vital when it comes to the health of the entire oral cavity. However, if we look at the entire anatomy of the oral cavity, you have to know that the health of the gums has the greatest impact on the health of the whole body.
Here are some examples of diseases that are closely related to gum health:
- Heart disease – Bacteria from gingivitis can enter the bloodstream and reach the heart’s arteries, leading to conditions such as atherosclerosis and endocarditis.
- Dementia – Bacteria from gingivitis can enter the brain through nerve channels or the bloodstream, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
- Respiratory infections – prolonged inhalation of bacteria produced by infected teeth and gums is likely eventually to lead to lung infections as well as pneumonia.
What diseases can affect oral health
It has been observed in some cases that the presence of some chronic diseases increases the risk of gum disease and vice versa. This is basically a vicious cycle.
Although it is not understood whether there is a clear link between chronic gum disease, it has been found that some diseases can affect your oral health:
- Diabetes – because the disease makes the body more susceptible to infection, gingivitis appears to be more common and more severe among people with diabetes. Studies also showed that patients with periodontal disease (for example, gingivitis or periodontal disease) have more difficulty controlling their blood sugar.
- HIV/AIDS – Oral problems, such as painful mucosal lesions, are more common in people with HIV/AIDS.
- Osteoporosis – It has been found that patients with osteoporosis are 86% more likely to develop periodontal disease which over time leads to tooth loss.
- Alzheimer’s Disease – In the case of people with this disease, there has been a deterioration in oral health as Alzheimer’s disease progressed.
At the end of this article, we hope that you like it and that you have benefited from it. We explained the importance of maintaining the teeth for the safety of the body as a whole and presented the risks and damages resulting from lack of attention to oral health.
