This Article is a Guest Post.
It was just a broken tooth; at least that was what Ashley thought as she was being driven to the dentist.
Little did she know that her overall health was in jeopardy; and her hectic work schedule/hyperactive twin kids weren’t helping matters.
One look in her mouth and her dentist concluded that an underlying health problem would tie together the multiple tooth fractures and a rapidly advancing gum disease.
A subsequent trip to her general practitioner showed Ashley’s blood pressure to be elevated, amongst other things and less than six months later, she had a heart attack. Thankfully, she recovered and was able to bounce back into full health.
It’s baffling to note that your dental health issues might be tied to other issues affecting your overall health, and according to research, gum diseases are linked to several other diseases affecting the cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal and endocrine systems. When over 1,000 medical histories were reviewed by researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry, people with gum disease were found to have two times increased risk of dying from a heart attack, and three times higher risk of coming down with a stroke than regular people.
Although gum disease is the commonest chronic inflammatory condition in the world, it still gets a medal for being a super silent disease.
However, its effects are not so silent. The mouth can easily act as a portal of entry for infections, and the organisms causing the infections e.g. bacteria can rapidly move through the bloodstream, causing inflammation in other body parts e.g. the heart.
Some studies have also pointed to a reciprocal relationship between gum disease and diabetes; stating that as periodontal disease is treated, insulin needs rapidly reduces.
Here are five important facts on how your dental health affects your overall health:
1. Dental Health and the Heart
The gist on dental health issues and their correlation with cardiovascular health is that conditions such as gum inflammation can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
The Canadian Academy of Periodontology lends credence to this; assessing that those with periodontal disease have increased risk of having a fatal heart attack at a two times higher rate than those without periodontal disease.
If your gum has had excess bacterial exposure due to your food intake, there is a higher risk of you coming down with cardiovascular disease due to the heightened level of inflammation throughout your body.
Therefore, if you pay attention to your oral health, you might be cutting down your cardiovascular risk significantly.
2. Dental Health and Diabetes Mellitus
Diabetes has been known to predispose patients to gum disease due to its suppressive effect on the body’s immune system. Recent studies, however, show that serious gum disease can also affect blood glucose control and contribute to diabetes.
According to the Canadian Diabetes Association; the toxins produced by the bacterial agents causing periodontal disease leads to ineffective carbohydrate metabolism in cells. In patients who are already diabetic, their bodies response to these bacterial agents can also lead to increased insulin resistance and ultimately, increased blood glucose levels. This is certainly a stimulus to take care of our teeth- for diabetics and non-diabetics as well.
3. Dental Health and the Respiratory System
Think about it this way: in the presence of periodontal disease, there are a lot unhealthier bacteria in the mouth, in which case, there is a heightened chance of developing lung infections such as pneumonia due to inhalation of these germs. The case is worse for people with pre-existing lung conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in which case gum disease worsens it.
That’s not all.
Smokers have a much higher chances of developing illnesses like lung cancer and emphysema, both significantly affecting the respiratory system adversely. Smokers are also more liable to lose their teeth!
4. Dental Health and Pregnancy
In pregnancy, gum disease has adverse effects.
Pregnant women who have progressive gum disease have been noted to have increased chances of developing gestational diabetes, have preterm delivery and to have low-birth-weight infants.
This is why regular dental checkups are even more essential in pregnancy, and early detection of dental health issues is sacrosanct here. By having regular dental health checks as well as physical health checkups, the pregnant woman reduces the chances of birthing a baby with developmental problems, asthma, ear infections, behavioral problems, low birth weight, and even infant death.
As it stands, as a pregnant woman, you aren’t just keeping your teeth healthy for yourself, the benefits are also transmitted to your baby!
5. On Bruxism and Joint Health
If you’re late to the party, bruxism is what happens when you grind your teeth, especially while sleeping. For the most part, bruxism is mild. However, when it’s frequent or severe, it can negatively affect the joints in your lower jaw- your temporomandibular joints, leading to pain and tightness in the joints, earaches, and headaches. This can even result in poor sleep.
For someone who has serious issues with bruxism, it can result in increased tooth sensitivity and lead to the tooth becoming broken or chipped.
The Tongue is Not Left Out…
The tongue has lots of tiny bumps on it, known as papillae. On this rough tongue surface, lots of special bacteria can be housed, and these trapped germs can result in bad breath and eventually affecting one’s sense of taste.
Here’s what an overgrowth of bacteria on your tongue can cause: it can lead to severe discoloration on your tongue, turning it yellow, white, black and hairy-looking. Eventually, these bacteria can migrate from your tongue down to other parts of your digestive tract and cause harm. Using a healthy dose of your vegan toothpaste on your toothbrush while scrubbing your tongue takes on new meaning when you realize how much good you’re doing your body!
Therefore, it would be wise to thoroughly clean your tongue every time you brush your teeth- with perhaps a tongue cleaner or a good toothbrush.
How Can You Take Care of Your Oral Health to Promote Excellent Overall General Health?
In that past, oral health promotion programs often focused solely on the care of the gums and teeth, isolating these from other health programs.
However, with the common risk factor approach to health promotion, common risk factors associated with several chronic health conditions- inclusive of oral health, there is the promotion of better health overall.
This is because it has been discovered that when combined action is taken against common health risks and underlying social determinants of these health risks, there is an improvement in these chronic health conditions, rather than when isolated diseases are focused on, as some of these risk factors work synergistically.
Oral disease has common risk factors with other chronic diseases, and some of these factors are diet, tobacco smoking, and alcohol consumption.
- Diet as a Common Risk Factor:
Diet is a risk factor for coronary artery disease, diabetes, obesity, cancers, and dental caries.
Your health is as good as your diet; which is why deficiency states such as anemia and osteoporosis are as a result of inadequate intake of specific essential nutrients; while overeating leads to obesity- which subsequently increases cardiovascular and stroke risk.
When addressing dietary influences on oral and general health, the food pyramid is very helpful.
Here, the top-shelf deals with foods high in sugar, salt, and fat; most of which are not essential for health and as such, should be taken sparingly.
The bottom shelf represents foods that are high in carbohydrates and proteins, which should constitute a good portion of our diets.
The top shelf has particular importance in terms of oral health, as high consumption of foods rich in sugars in particular- is directly linked to dental caries. When foods high in sugars are restricted, we have healthy teeth; and when foods high in fats/oils are restricted, we have healthy hearts. Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables also leads to protection against cancers, and systemic inflammatory conditions like periodontal diseases.
- Tobacco Chewing/Smoking as a Common Risk Factor:
Tobacco smoking is a common risk factor for oral cancer alongside other cancers, periodontal disease, coronary heart diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases, stroke. When you stop smoking, you, therefore, improve all aspects of your health. (Let’s not forget the detrimental effects of secondary smoking too!)
- Alcohol Consumption as a Common Risk Factor:
Alcohol consumption is also a common risk factor for oral cancers and other cancers, cardiovascular diseases, liver cirrhosis. Whilst reducing your alcohol intake would be beneficial for your liver and heart, it would also be helpful for your oral health.
Wrapping Up
Using your toothpaste diligently and dutifully shouldn’t just be a habit you engage in without knowing the serious benefits you can gain from it. Taking care of your dental health is of immense benefit to your entire body. Knowing this, you should not only value your oral health, but you should also avoid skipping your dentist appointments! Who knows what you’d be preventing?
This Article is a Guest Post.
