Taking good care of your mouth, teeth and gums is a worthwhile lifestyle routine that can positively affect your overall health.
Good oral and dental hygiene can help prevent bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease—and can help you keep your teeth as you get older. Establishing good oral hygiene and dietary habits have been proven to be essential to achieving and maintaining, overall physical and emotional well-being throughout life.
Oral health can affect both your physical and emotional well-being as it can impact upon appearance, interpersonal relations, diet, nutrition and speech. In addition, a disease of the mouth can affect the rest of the body and is a contributing factor to a number of secondary conditions.
At Access Dental Care we are firm believers in the need for oral health to be promoted and made more aware to the public. So, we have teamed up with the Mouth Healthy Organisation to make this happen.
How to improve oral health?
Regular dental visits can do more than just keep your smile attractive – they can also tell dentists a lot about your overall health, including whether or not you may be at risk of chronic disease.
New research suggests that the health of your mouth, mirrors the condition of your body as a whole. For example, when your mouth is healthy, this is a indication of good overall health. On the other hand, if you have poor oral health, you may have other health concerns.
At home, you can practice good oral hygiene by completing the following:
- Brush twice a day for at least two minutes.
- Floss daily to remove plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach.
- Eat a healthy diet to provide the nutrients necessary (vitamins A and C, in particular) to prevent gum disease.
- Avoid cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, which are known to contribute to gum disease and oral cancer.
- Visit the dentist regularly for cleanings and exams. This is one of the most effective ways to detect the early signs of gum disease.
Can bad oral hygiene cause health problems?
If you don’t take care of your teeth and gums, your poor oral hygiene can actually lead to other health problems, including:
Oral and facial pain
This pain may be largely due to infection of the gums that support the teeth and can lead to tooth loss. Gingivitis, an early stage of gum disease, is extremely common among individuals.
Problems with the heart and other major organs
Mouth infections can affect major organs. For example, the heart and heart valves can become inflamed by bacterial endocarditis, a condition that affects people with heart disease or anyone with damaged heart tissue.
Digestion problems
Digestion begins with physical and chemical processes in the mouth, and problems here can lead to intestinal failure, irritable bowel syndrome and other digestive disorders.
Dentist in Perth CBD, East Perth & Bull Creek
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