Why Good Dental Hygiene Is A Must
Good dental hygiene keeps your teeth and gums healthy and is good for your overall health.
You’ve heard that it is important to have regular visits to your dentist but do you understand exactly why this is?
It is for more than just a regular cleaning of your teeth. Oral hygiene includes examinations by your dentist who can identify the potential of a problem with your teeth and gums long before it can develop into a serious issue.
What An Oral Exam Can Say About Your Health
When you visit your dentist for a regular checkup, the health of your mouth tells a lot about your overall health condition. For example, if you have followed good oral health practices, it will show. Your teeth, gums, and mouth will be healthy. However, if you are not keeping up with good oral care, you can increase the risk of developing certain diseases.
The Health Conditions You Can Develop
Gum disease is the number one issue for individuals who do not take good care of their teeth. Gum disease is also known as periodontal disease and has been linked to other serious health complications. They can include heart disease and stroke. Gum disease in women can account for an increase in pre-term low birth weight babies.
In fact, up to 90-percent of all diseases that involve multiple body organs include oral connections such as dry mouth, mouth ulcers, swollen gums and other matters resulting from poor dental hygiene. A list of diseases that fall under this category include:
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Kidney Disease
- Leukemia
- Oral Cancer
- Pancreatic Cancer
Poor dental health can also contribute to the following health conditions:
Oral/Facial Pain
When the gums become infected, they lose their ability to hold teeth in place. Teeth become loose and can fall out. Infection can come from Gingivitis, which is a gum disease. Pain associated with the infected gums can impact your eating habits, how you speak and how you feel about yourself.
Major Organ Problems
Infections in the mouth can create bacteria that can harm the heart and the valves of the heart. Bacterial endocarditis causes inflammation of these organs and impacts individuals with heart disease or heart tissue damage.
Digestive Issues
The health of your mouth has a direct connection to digestion. That’s because chemicals in your mouth start the digestive phase. With poor oral health, intestinal failure may result along with irritable bowel syndrome or other disorders related to digestion.
How To Maintain Good Dental Hygiene
As your dental professional will be the first person to identify any issues related to your oral health, keeping regularly scheduled checkups with your dentist is important. A regular dental exam will reveal the development of issues ranging from poor dental health, poor nutrition, oral disease development and much more.
In addition to seeing your dentist, between visits you can keep your teeth and gums healthy by practicing good oral habits at home. They include the following:
Brush Your Teeth
The best defense in the fight against gum disease and problems with your teeth is to brush them regularly. It is recommended that you brush at least twice a day. The brushing activity should last no less than two minutes and should be done with fluoridated toothpaste.
Floss Daily
In addition to daily brushing, you should floss your teeth each day. This helps to remove plaque and particles that end up caught in places that cannot be reached by your toothbrush. Flossing also removes build up between teeth.
Eat Healthy Foods
One of the easiest ways to prevent gum disease is to eat a healthy diet. A healthy diet includes foods with the nutrients your body needs including vitamins A and C. For direction on the foods best for oral health, be sure to ask your dental professional.
Don’t Smoke
Avoiding cigarettes and tobacco is good for your overall health as well as oral health. That’s because both have been linked to gum disease and oral cancer. If you are a smoker and have been looking for a good reason to butt out, this would be it.
See Your Dentist
By scheduling regular visits to your dentist you can have your teeth professionally cleaned and also receive a thorough oral exam. Your dentist will be able to detect any signs of gum disease long before it has a chance to develop into more serious problems. This is why seeing your dentist regularly is your best preventative measure in the battle for good oral health.
How long has it been since your last dental checkup? Make sure that you book in to see our dentists as part of your dental hygiene routine. Contact us for more information today.
Forster dentist is also serving local communities in Tuncurry, Pacific Palms, Smiths Lake, Hallidays Point, Failford, Old Bar, Nabiac, Taree, Manning Valley, Bulahdelah, Harrington and Great Lakes.