Dental and overall health are interrelated and interdependent aspects. It is because various body functions have a complex and equally delicate connection.
Disturbances in any of the organs and their functions readily impact others. For instance, oral health determines diet choices and nutrients intake for the sustenance of the body. Oral problems can hamper chewing, leading to less nutrient extraction and more food wastage. Then there are problems with much broader implications – straightening your teeth can have profound impacts on your self-esteem, careers and relationships.
It also means that oral hygiene is inseparable from overall personal hygiene. Neglecting mouth hygiene can lead to the onset of several diseases. For instance, carelessness and irregularity of eating habits lead to gums issues and tooth decay.
Thus, it is necessary to give due attention to oral hygiene as a prerequisite to overall well-being.
Mostly, minor dental issues resolve on their own through the body’s natural repairing mechanism. For instance, saliva flosses away food residue and protects against bacterial growth and acidic erosion.
However, carelessness in oral hygiene and ignoring repeatedly surfacing issues are sure to cause severe dental health.
Here are some precautions and tips to keep your dental health in check:
Keep your dental health in check
Regardless of the significance of healthcare problems, ignoring them complicates the situation even more. And the same goes for dental health.
If a dental problem persists or reoccurs frequently, it may be time to seek dentist assistance right away. It is because even minor oral issues can further worsen dental health.
Even if your dental health does not indicate potential problems, a dental checkup from a dentist in Honolulu Hawaii once in a while is essential to ensure overall well-being.
For instance, dentists advise dental checkups after every six months or once a year. These visits are necessary to know if you are following oral hygiene or if it needs extra care.
Doctors also have the sophisticated tools to examine hidden dental issues. For instance, a teeth x-ray can identify your teeth’ health, the build up of cavities, and bone loss.
Similarly, doctors can also unclog hardened tartar and plague easily using the right tools and techniques. In essence, expert examination of hygiene issues is necessary to minimize the chances of tooth decay and other dental diseases.
Do not underestimate drugs and addiction
Undeniably, addiction has several negative impacts on normal body functions and well-being.
Consumption of addictive drugs also has severe complications for dental health, involving gums, teeth, jawline, and other parts of the mouth.
For instance, consumption of cocaine leads to rapid tooth decay, given its acidic impact on the enamel. It also causes gum sores and can lead to gum infection when addicts rub the substance against gums.
Similarly, alcohol consumption readily causes mouth dryness. Since the substance is acidic itself, it further increases acid build-up in the mouth.
Higher consumption can also increase acidic reflux from the stomach. As a result, acidic content in the mouth without saliva readily leads to enamel erosion and tooth decay. In severe cases, addictive drugs also cause chronic oral diseases, such as cancer.
In addition, disease-specific drugs also impair oral health due to their side effects, including oral dryness, inflammation, discolouration, and others.
Even though different drugs have different side effects, all of them harm overall dental health. Thus cutting down on addiction-related drugs and re-checking with a healthcare provider regarding healthcare drugs are crucial to prevent dental health issues.
Follow accurate flossing and brushing technique
Generally, people understand the significance of brushing and flossing their teeth. At the same time, many are not aware of the accurate method and timing to ensure oral cleanliness. As such, people ignore brushing after they consume liquid products without meals.
However, regular and frequent mouth cleanliness is less dependent upon the food type than food intake. That is why brushing your teeth after every meal or nutritious liquid intake is unquestionably essential for dental health.
Similarly, cleaning the right way is equally important to ensure proper cleanliness. For instance, brushing your teeth in circular motions and cleaning every side of your tooth is necessary to extract food particles from every nook and corner.
Additionally, forceful brushing can damage gums and tooth enamel. In such cases, if brushing does not unclog food residue, go for flossing. Following accurate flossing method removes food debris in between teeth easily.
Furthermore, keep track of your brush’s condition and quality. If it loses effectiveness, do not delay changing it. Similarly, consider the contents of toothpaste and mouthwash carefully, such as fluoride.
The element is necessary to strengthen the enamel layer and prevents tooth decay from bacteria and acids.
Observe gastrointestinal problems
Gastrointestinal and dental health has an interesting relationship. Specifically, irregularities in gastrointestinal functions can disturb your oral health. As such, indigestion and heartburn conditions can release acidic reflux to your mouth.
The acidic content is detrimental to dental health, causing enamel erosion. Weaker enamel exposes teeth to bacterial attacks and cavity formation.
On the other hand, oral problems can also affect your gastrointestinal functions. For instance, a mouth infection can facilitate bacterial translocation through the intestinal tract to the gut. The presence of the oral microbiome in the stomach can disturb the balance of the gut microbiome. In severe cases, the combined impact of the microbiota disturbance can also weaken the immune system and lead to other systematic impairments.
Studies also identify the correlation between microbiota overlap and several diseases, including inflammatory bowel, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, liver cirrhosis, HIV infection, colon cancer, and other metabolic disorders, are common.
As such, oral bacterial invasion of the gut was common in approximately 54% of cases with liver cirrhosis. It means disease severity also has a direct relationship to the number of invading bacteria from the mouth.
Thus keeping your gastrointestinal functions in balance prevents dental health problems and vice versa.
Maintain healthy eating habits
Eating habits and the type of food you consume have a reciprocal relationship with your dental health. As such, irregular eating practices will keep your mouth engaged all the time without necessary breaks to uphold oral hygiene.
Similarly, higher consumption of sugary foods, such as soft drinks, cookies, and cakes, facilitates bacteria growth.
These bacteria produce acids as a by-product of their functions, which leads to the erosion of teeth layering. Eventually, such a practice can promote oral infections and cavity formation.
In addition, checking the nutritional value of whatever you are consuming is necessary to strengthen dental health.
Otherwise, dental health deteriorates if your diet is not nutritiously rich. As such, insufficient intake of calcium and vitamin D will promote teeth decay and build up of cavities.
Similarly, if your diet lacks vitamin C, even minor gum scratches will take a long to heal. Long-term deficiency of the vitamin can lead to severe gum problems, such as periodontal disease.
Thus consuming hygienic foods and maintaining a proper eating routine are crucial factors to ensure dental health.
Takeaway
Undeniably, dental health is as crucial as overall well-being. Oral health is vital to the point of ensuring the body’s survival.
It is because each cell’s survival and function are dependent upon food and nutrient intake. Thus attending to dental health and practising oral hygiene is crucial to prevent dental issues and ensure healthy living.
Ellen Diamond did her degree in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. She has an ongoing interest in mental health and well-being.
