When caring for the body, oral hygiene is important, because it is the front line of defense when eating food. Yet for many problems that can also occur, such as heightened vulnerability and gum disease, that will have a significant impact on the state of health.
Oral wellbeing is so a much more than pure lips, teeth and gums wellbeing. Since the mouth is a key entry into the bloodstream, bad oral hygiene may have adverse effects on the entire body. Teeth that ache, bleeding gums, and foul-tasting breath are also signs of poor oral hygiene. Mouth-borne bacteria can quickly penetrate the bloodstream and cause infection and inflammation anywhere it spreads.
Although most people recognize that inadequate oral care can contribute to tooth and gum disease, others are unaware of how damaged teeth and gums can potentially cause other body-wide medical issues.
What are the Health Risks Associated with Bad Teeth?
Although the most common problem caused by tooth decay is discomfort, it can also predispose you to a number of other health conditions. Bad oral health may be affected by causing or exacerbating health problems like heart and lung disease, stroke, or mental anxiety and depression.
Less but still serious side effects include coughing and speech problems, chronic fatigue, and lack of sleep.
Lack of oral hygiene is also symptomatic of inadequate diet and malnutrition. Increased sugar and starch intake can have dramatic effects on teeth and gums, and on overall health and well-being.
Gum cancer, which is often frequently related to tooth decay, may also have serious health impacts. When left unchecked, gum disease can cause soft tissue damage in the jaw, causing long-lasting disability; and, occasionally, death.
How are Oral Health and Overall Health Connected?
Unlike other body regions, the mouth is teeming with bacteria-usually harmless. Your mouth is, however, the point of entry to your digestive and respiratory passages, and some of these bacteria may cause disease.
Normally, bacteria are kept under balance by normal defences of the body and proper oral health treatment, such as regular brushing and flossing. Without good oral hygiene, though, bacteria can exceed rates that may lead to oral infections, such as dental decay and gum disease.
For a fact, other medicines — such as decongestants, antihistamines, painkillers, diuretics, and antidepressants — can also suppress the flow of saliva. Saliva washes away food and neutralizes the acids in the mouth formed by bacteria, helping to prevent you from growing microbes and contributing to illness.
Studies show that in certain diseases, oral bacteria and inflammation associated with a serious type of gum disease (periodontitis) may play a role. So other illnesses, such as diabetes so HIV/AIDS, will reduce the body’s resistance to infection, causing issues with oral health more severe.
Some common and serious health problems caused by bad teeth
1. Cardiovascular Disease
Bad oral health puts a person at risk for cardiac disease. If the gums become inflamed due to the bacteria that cause periodontal disease, the same bacteria will also invade the bloodstream causing plaque build-up and hardening of the arteries. Such artery hardening is termed atherosclerosis, which is very dangerous. This adds to issues with blood pressure and cardiac blockages, and it raises the risk of a heart attack. The adverse effect on the arteries and blood vessels can result in hypertension and raise the risk of strokes. Often, endocarditis may develop, which is an often lethal disease that happens when the heart lining is compromised.
2. Respiratory Disease
Respiratory illness is another health issue that may result from getting poor teeth. This has been related to the bacteria that find its way into the body through the mouth. As a consequence, this may consequence in pneumonia and other illnesses, which can result in other problems even worse. You can keep your teeth clean and avoid this by using state-of-the-art toothbrushes to keep your teeth clean, as well as mouthwash and floss. In fact, modern and advanced technology is being used in best dentist offices and other clinics, including dental X-ray machines and laser dentistry.
3. Diabetes
Not only are diabetics also more vulnerable to infection, such as infected gums, due to periodontal disease, but periodontal disease can also make it difficult to manage diabetes. Symptoms can escalate because of gum disease because blood sugar levels go haywire. Diabetics particularly need to take careful care of their oral health to avoid problems with their illness. Since gum disease can lead to levels of blood sugar higher than average, a person with poor oral health is at an elevated risk of developing diabetes.
4. Infertility
There is a correlation between bad oral health and women’s infertility issues. Gum disease may lead to various general health issues that may make it difficult for a woman to conceive and sustain a stable pregnancy. In reality, it will take a woman with bad oral health longer to get pregnant than it should be for a woman who has strong dental health.
5. Kidney Disease
Chronic kidney disease is a severe health condition that affects blood pressure, pulse, bones and kidneys. Body diseases such as periodontal illness can lead to kidney disease. People with gum disease have poor immune systems in general and are more likely to contract infections. Many individuals suffering from extremely poor oral health often experience kidney disease. Organ disease can be deadly if it causes cardiovascular disease or kidney failure.
6. Pregnancy Issue
Exercising proper oral hygiene is important for expectant mothers. Hormonal changes in the body during pregnancy may make it much harder for a woman to contract oral infections. Any illness in the body of the mother raises the chance of having complications from birth. Mother’s oral health conditions such as periodontitis and gingivitis were believed to lead to premature delivery and poor birth weight in children. Gum illness endangers both mother and baby from severe health issues
7. Mouth Sores
There are many types of mouth sores and they can be bothersome and shameful. If a mouth sore lasts longer than two weeks, there’s usually nothing to think about and it’s going to vanish. Popular mouth sores are canker sores found inside the mouth rather than on the lips. They are not contagious and can be caused by several different causes. They become a threat even if they don’t go after 2 weeks. The Herpes simplex virus triggers fever blisters or cold sores, which happens on the bottom of the outer lips. They are infectious and can come and go but they are not necessarily curable.8 Mouth sores are also found in oral thrush or candidiasis, a mouth yeast infection that can be seen in children, denture wearers, people with diabetes and during cancer care.
8. Erectile Dysfunction
Bad oral hygiene places a man at an elevated risk of developing erectile dysfunction. Chronic periodontal disease is considered to be ED-related. CPD is an infection that happens as the gums draw away from the mouth, forming gaps that contain bacteria and causing the bug to spread to the mouth that covers the bone. Bacteria from diseased gums may invade the bloodstream and cause an inflammation of the blood vessels. Such inflammation will obstruct the blood supply to the penis, making erections difficult to reach or even impossible.
9. Oral Cancer
Clearly bad oral hygiene habits such as smoking or using nicotine products can lead to cancers of the mouth and throat, but other forms of cancer have also been associated with gum disease. In those with poor oral hygiene, the risk of kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer and blood cancers is even greater.
10. Rheumatoid Arthritis
People with gum disease are four times more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis according to the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society. Both illnesses have much in common with inflammation. Gingivitis oral bacteria can increase inflammation in the whole body. It makes the risk of contracting autoimmune inflammation, a severe and crippling rheumatoid arthritis, far greater.
11. Dementia
Bad oral hygiene may have an effect on the brain. Substances emitted from contaminated gums will in effect destroy brain cells and cause memory loss. Dementia and probably even Alzheimer’s disease may be caused by gingivitis as the bacteria in the mouth migrate through the arteries of the nerves or touch the blood.
12. Osteoporosis
This bone-weakening condition is associated with deterioration of the periodontal bone and tooth decay. Some treatments used to treat osteoporosis pose a slight chance of injury to the jawbones.
Establish Good Hygiene Habits
The point is clear: It is necessary to exercise good dental hygiene in many areas that you might not have thought about before. Encourage the family to practise proper oral health through brushing with fluoride toothpaste for every meal, flossing regularly and use a mouth rinse to destroy bacteria. You will also periodically see a dental specialist for hygiene and for tooth prevention and care.
Dental hygiene is a general health measure. Take precautions to avoid oral health issues such as gingivitis and periodontal disease will go a long way toward reducing the possibility of more severe body-wide health conditions.