Do you know that your mouth is home to around 700 species of bacteria? Yet, many people don’t take their dental cleaning seriously. Usually, when you are tired after a long hectic day, you don’t mind skipping brushing. After all, you are skipping it just for one night. Isn’t it?
Similarly, you keep procrastinating your professional cleaning appointments from time to time without even realizing that your dental cleaning can significantly affect your overall health. It turns out that flossing at least once a day, brushing at least twice a day, and getting semi-annual or annual professional cleaning benefits you more than just a bright smile.
Therefore, read if you think you are a bit lax with your in-house oral care or if it’s been quite some time since you visited your dentist.
This article will discuss some of the health benefits of taking care of your teeth and gums. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
1)- Reduce the Risk of Heart Issues
You may find it interesting or shocking, but poor oral hygiene is often the cause of heart-related diseases. If you don’t know, bacteria never stay in one place or, let’s say, just in your teeth or gums. In fact, it rapidly spreads throughout the human body and may even infect your bloodstream.
Considering this, bacteria can even travel to your heart and result in delicate arteries shrinking or narrowing, putting you at risk of a heart attack. According to the American College of Cardiology, gum diseases increase the risk of suffering from a heart attack by nearly 50%.
However, regular teeth cleaning and professional deep cleaning with the assistance of an expert and affordable orthodontics like Lund Orthodontics is the answer to these medical problems. It is believed that proper dental cleaning significantly reduces the chances of bacterial inflammation. It improves blood vessels’ function and promotes blood flow throughout the body.
2)- Prevent Diabetes
Do you know that gum disease and diabetes go hand-in-hand? This is because if you are living with diabetes, you are more vulnerable to experiencing gum disease.
Alternatively, suffering from severe gum disease will make it harder for you to control your blood glucose levels. And as a result, you are more likely to develop diabetes, or it will become difficult for you to control diabetes if you already have it.
However, take care of your teeth and ensure deep cleaning. It will help remove tarter and plaque that contains millions of bacteria and builds on your teeth throughout the year and help avoid facing gum diseases and other health issues eventually.
3)- Decrease the Risk of Future Dementia
According to the NIA’s recent study and reports published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, scientists believe that bacteria that leads to gum diseases is also closely related to the development of severe dementia and related Alzheimer’s disease, particularly vascular dementia.
This means that protecting your teeth now and taking care of your oral hygiene can save you from experiencing dementia once you grow old. The link found between poor oral health and dementia goes both ways.
Patients who have dementia are usually the victim of poor oral health. Similarly, it is strongly believed that anyone with poor oral health is equally vulnerable to developing dementia and other cognitive impairment issues.
Thus, failing to properly take care of your oral hygiene leads to increased bacteria production in your mouth. This leads to gum diseases which cause inflammation and increase the risk of having beta-amyloid plaques in the brain or dementia.
4)- Prevent Low Birth Weight and Premature Birth
It is said that when you are pregnant, you eat for two. But do you also know that when you’re pregnant, you are brushing for two? Nothing is more important for a parent than their children and their health.
However, most parents fail to understand that oral health can affect their unborn baby and their overall pregnancy. That’s why pregnant women must take preventive steps to keep their dental health in check.
Gum diseases are believed to increase the chances of low birth weight and premature birth. In addition, gum diseases may also lead to delayed conception and impotency.
Therefore, before you decide to conceive or take on the responsibility of a child, it is essential to have healthy teeth and gums.
This means sticking to a strict at-home oral care regimen, keeping track of sugar cravings, and ensuring regular orthodontics visits even when pregnant.
In addition, embark on a thorough dental cleaning service once per year to do the least. In short, keep your gums and teeth as healthy as possible during pregnancy to protect your child’s health and set them up for a successful life.
5)- Protect Brain Cells and Avoid Kidney Diseases
If you think the bacteria in your mouth are solely responsible for the danger related to severe gum disease, you are wrong. In fact, the buildup of tartar in your mouth leads to the secretion of certain substances that can kill your brain cells.
In addition, our mouth is full of billions of both good and bad bacteria that release toxins, having the potential to harm our brain cell activity and impair our ability to learn.
Not only that, but oral bacteria may also lead to chronic kidney diseases. Both gum disease and tooth decay can trigger acute infections that may lead to complications for individuals with kidney diseases. Therefore, if you are an adult already suffering from some kidney-related illness, the bacteria can increase the risk of more complications and even death.
It is important to start good oral health habits early in life. For helping your kids build a trusted relationship with the dentist, please see the tips below
Provided by Cosmedent – dental continuing education
The Final Words
These are some of the many health benefits of ensuring proper oral hygiene. However, to reap these health benefits, you must see your dentist for dental cleaning and checkups every six months.
Plus, if you have been suffering from diabetes, or periodontal disease or are a chronic smoker, you must have frequent dentist visits.
So, now as you are fully aware and motivated to take care of your pearly whites, prevent tooth decay, inflammation, gum disease, and related problems by taking care of your oral hygiene and avoid the risk of various life-changing health issues.
After all, when you fail to care for your oral health, your oral health fails to care for your body.
