A healthy mouth, teeth, and gums can be maintained by practicing good dental hygiene. Additionally, it will improve your appearance and quality of life. Dental issues like cavities or gum disease can make it difficult for you to eat or speak clearly, and they can also cause pain and make your breath unpleasant. Unhealthy oral hygiene can also significantly harm your heart, diabetes, and pregnancy, which many people may not be aware of. So, to prevent these dental problems, regular visits to your dentist in Fort Myers, FL, and good daily oral hygiene (brushing and flossing) go hand in hand with good dental health. Let us know more about how dental health can affect your general health and how it is important:
- Cancer: Oral cancer is a dangerous illness that needs immediate attention. Oral cancer has a late-stage potential for organ metastasis. In addition, the use of tobacco products significantly increases the risk of acquiring oral (mouth) cancer. Therefore, maintaining good dental hygiene minimizes the risk of oral cancer.
- Endocarditis: When bacteria or other germs from another area of your body, such as your mouth, migrate through your bloodstream and adhere to specific locations in your heart, it often results in an infection of the inner lining of your heart chambers or valves (endocardium). This can be due to unclean teeth or gums. Hence, dental health not only keeps your mouth fresh but prevents endocarditis.
- Diabetes: If you have gum disease, you’ll have difficulty maintaining blood sugar control. This can be another cause of diabetes; therefore, dental hygiene is important for not only diabetic patients but non-diabetic patients as well.
- Complications during pregnancy and delivery: According to medical research, dental hygiene has also been responsible for low birth weight and early delivery.
- Immune system deterioration – Bad dental hygiene directly impacts your immune system. As a result, oral infections can spread to other body regions, causing a deterioration in one’s overall health.
We often think that dental health can only impact your oral health, but unfortunately, your dental health is linked to your whole wellness. Poor dental hygiene practices raise your risk of developing diseases or ailments, some of which can impact your mouth and others on your entire body. So, good dental health is necessary for overall health and gives you freedom from the pain and suffering brought on by various oral diseases. In addition, bad dental hygiene can cause unpleasant breath and affects one’s sense of self-worth, confidence, quality of life, and performance at work and school. Therefore, you must prioritize your oral health, maintain it regularly, and go for a regular dental check-up to ensure that no issues go unnoticed.