How Dental Health Benefits Your Entire Body

Oral health and good dental hygiene is important for more than simply your smile. A bad dental exam suggests that there may be other health problems occurring in the rest of your body. It’s really no wonder; the mouth is essentially the gateway to the entire body. The Academy of General Dentistry suggests that there is actually a relationship between gum disease and other serious complications such as stroke and heart attack.
Once you consider the facts, there is a clear and direct correlation between oral health and heart disease. WebMD explores the situation statistically and a staggering 91% of patients who have a heart disease have been diagnosed with periodontitis, or a severe gum disease. It works the other way, as well. Since you’re likely to see your dentist more regularly than any other healthcare provider, they are often the first to discover other complications in their early stages of developing.

So what can you do to prevent these health issues from manifesting? Dental hygiene is easy to practice and will greatly improve your overall health and wellbeing.
– First, ensure you are always brushing your teeth twice daily for two to three minutes.
– Floss daily.
– Eat a healthy diet to incorporate the vitamins essential for healthy teeth and gum disease prevention including calcium, vitamins C, D, and A.
– Avoid unhealthy habits like smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco. Besides the obvious health risks, these substances contribute to gum disease and oral cancer.
As we all know, a great smile is an attractive and contagious attribute, however, your oral health can also contribute to the prevention of some of these other bodily complications. Given these facts, it’s clear that getting to your dentist for regular cleanings and screenings is well worth your effort; you’ll be smiling a lot more for it.