Dental health comprises all aspects of oral health and functioning of the mouth particularly the teeth, gums and tongue. Maintaining proper dental health is the key to achieving a hygienic and healthy living.
Dental health: Why is it Necessary in Order to Maintain Healthy Living
Dental health comprises all aspects of oral health and functioning of the mouth particularly the teeth, gums, and tongue. Maintaining proper dental health is the key to achieving a hygienic and healthy living; a fact that not many people are aware of Simple activities like flossing and brushing your teeth on a regular basis are considered time-consuming and even neglected by many people owing to their busy schedule. Here a few highlights why dental health matters to every person.
Overall Health
The importance of dental health to the overall health and wellbeing cannot be overemphasized. A healthy mouth enables you to chew and swallow food and thus obtain the necessary nutrients for optimum health. Despite the negative effect on the nutritional condition, poor dental health can harmfully affect speech as well as self-esteem. Lack of good oral hygiene also affects an individual's physical appearance and breath because of decaying teeth, caries, stains, etc.
The biggest cause of tooth decay is the eating of foodstuffs that contain carbohydrates such as bread, breakfast cereals, chocolate, milk products and desserts like cakes or puddings. Brushing your teeth regularly can help control tooth decay and related infections. Essentially, you are what you consume in terms of general bodily health and this is applicable to your teeth as much as any other part of your body.
Prevent Certain Health Conditions
Not only can dental health have a direct effect on overall health, but can also contribute to some health diseases and issues. Common health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, endocarditis, and diabetes may become evident due to poor dental health. Proper dental care, on the other hand, can lessen the strain on the immune system and reduce the presence of bacteria, which can be detrimental to your health.
There is usually a connection between gum disease and diabetes. Severe gum disease may essentially contribute to diabetes since it affects the control of blood glucose. In a normal individual, bacteria can be easily removed by the body, while in diabetics it is more difficult for the body to do so. Additionally, a person with diabetes is often unable to heal from infections and wounds that can cause serious mouth infections.
Dental Health for a Healthier Heart
Studies have related dental inflammatory disease to high risk of heart disease. People with gum disease are at bigger risk of heart disease and have double the risk of experiencing a deadly heart attack than individuals without gum disease. Those that suffer from periodontal disease and other health conditions more than ever need to maintain proper dental hygiene. Doing so will ultimately minimize the risk of getting other serious diseases.
Dental diseases impose both social and financial burdens while treatment is expensive and both children and adults may become unproductive due to dental pain. Regular dental visits facilitate early identification of these dental infections and conditions. This helps in the early treatment of such issues before they build up into serious problems.
Dental health is certainly necessary in order to maintain general health. There are a number of practices that can be done to sustain proper dental health. Besides brushing and flossing regularly and eating a proper diet, visiting a dental office on a regular basis can help prevent most dental problems.
Many conditions cause dental health signs and symptoms
In addition, since Your mouth is a gateway to your body and to know what's going on in the rest of your body, mouth serve as a helpful point for detecting the early signs and symptoms of systemic disease — a disease that affects or pertains to your entire body, not just one of its parts. Systemic conditions such as AIDS or diabetes, for example, often first become apparent as mouth lesions or other oral problems. In fact, according to the Academy of General Dentistry, more than 90 percent of all systemic diseases produce oral signs and symptoms.
Saliva Serves as a Helpful diagnostic tool
Your doctor can collect and test saliva to detect for a variety of substances. For example, cortisol levels in saliva are used to test for stress responses in newborn children. And fragments of certain bone-specific proteins may be useful in monitoring bone loss in women and men prone to osteoporosis. Certain cancer markers are also detectable in saliva.
Routine saliva testing can also measure illegal drugs, environmental toxins, hormones and antibodies indicating hepatitis or HIV infection, among other things. In fact, the ability to detect HIV-specific antibodies has led to the production of commercial, easy-to-use saliva test kits. In the future, saliva testing may replace blood testing as a means of diagnosing and monitoring diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease, cirrhosis of the liver and many infectious diseases.
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