We discuss here Dental Hygiene and Overall Health. Scientists are discovering more and more about the links between dental health and whole-body health. If our eyes are the window to our souls, then our mouth is the doorway to our bodies, and our teeth may be the window to our health, according to mounting evidence of a strong connection between them. Which is something I’ve been saying as a holistic dentist for many years.
If the scientists are right, and the evidence becomes more and more difficult to ignore, our oral health can play a huge role in the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and even the health of newborns.
“Currently, there is a lot of research trying to focus on the links between oral health and general health in both directions: poor oral health affecting overall health and poor overall health affecting oral health,” says Dr. Matthew Hop craft, President of the American Medical Association. Australian Dental Victorian Branch Inc.
Not astounding. The whole body is connected, but for a long time people and medicine believed that the mouth is a separate part of the body and that dentists work in isolation from the rest of the body. Obviously, that no longer makes sense from an anatomical or physiological point of view, since the mouth and teeth are part of you and connected to the body by numerous blood vessels and nerve supplies, in addition to all our food and drink entering the body through the mouth.
Oral health and heart disease
Poor oral health, especially the presence of inflammation in the form of gum disease, appears to increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. A study by the University of Queensland found that it is the bacteria in the mouth, and more specifically in the infected gums, that are very harmful. The group was able to locate T cells that interact with oral bacteria in the arteries of people with atherosclerosis, where arterial damage occurs due to a buildup of fatty deposits.
Finding mouth bacteria inside the coronary arteries in people with heart disease isn’t something. You’d expect to find, but the bacteria in the mouth found in the blood. Vessels of the heart suggests that’s where the heart disease link comes from. Gum and heart disease. Because the mouth acts as a kind of entrance, it allows bacteria to travel through the bloodstream. To other parts of the body, especially in a person with gum disease. Where the blood vessels become swollen and more permeable. And are more likely to allow it. Bacteria or bacterial toxins. From the affected gums into the bloodstream, where it travels to other parts of the body.
Our gums are often neglected, even though the health of your gums can be just as important as the health of your teeth. In fact, it can be difficult to have healthy teeth without healthy gums.
Diabetes related gum disease
Little is known about the link between gum disease and diabetes, but the evidence is growing. People are now beginning to research and understand the links more closely. And it appears that there may be a link between gum disease and diabetes, but perhaps the opposite is true. Therefore, people with diabetes are more likely to develop gum disease. Or gum disease becomes more aggressive and causes more problems due to the altered immune response that people with diabetes have. Which makes them more susceptible to infection with the bacteria that causes gum disease. People with poorly controlled diabetes often have problems with the microvascular system. So the small blood vessels tend to not function well. Which affects how the gums respond to and treat gum disease.”
Treating gum disease can help treat diabetes, because if you can control gum disease, diabetes becomes easier to control. Diabetes is difficult to control if there is constant contact. Dental Hygiene and Overall Health
From mother to son
Dental health effects can be passed on from mother to child. Periodontal disease or gingivitis is associated with increased rates of premature births, so it is important to make sure, very early in pregnancy, that pregnant women visit the dentist to treat any problems. About 18 percent of preterm births are associated with gingivitis. Dental Hygiene and Overall Health
