The Importance of Oral Health for Your Overall Health: Insights from a Norwood Park Dentist
How well you maintain your oral health is a pretty good measure of how well you take care of your body. We say this because taking good care of your oral hygiene can actually have a significant impact on your overall health and well-being. This means that maintaining good oral health — even if it means doing simple tasks such as brushing, flossing, and rinsing every day — is one of the keys to achieving a healthy lifestyle.
Are you interested in learning about the connection between your oral health and overall health? If so, then you’ve come to the right place. This Norwood Park dentist is going to explain everything you’ll need to know.
The importance of your oral health to your overall health and well-being cannot be understated
A healthy mouth allows you to chew and swallow food, and thus receive the necessary nutrients for a healthy body. One of the main consequences of having poor oral health is that it can result in tooth decay. This can lead to speech problems, and it can also affect your physical appearance and breath.
Food containing carbohydrates — such as bread and grains, starchy vegetables (corn, potato, and beets), pasta, cereal, sweetened yogurt, chips, crackers, milk, gluten-free baked goods, and dessert — are the main culprits of tooth decay. Thankfully, tooth decay prevention is fairly straightforward. All you have to do is brush your teeth daily to help maintain healthy teeth.
Did you know that proper oral health can help prevent diabetes and heart attack?
Not only does poor oral health have a direct impact on your overall health, but it can also lead to certain health problems and diseases. Common health conditions — including cardiovascular disease, endocarditis, and diabetes — can become evident due to poor oral health.
Let’s get more specific:
There is generally a link between gum (periodontal) disease and diabetes. Severe gum disease can increase the risk of diabetes, as it often raises blood sugar levels. Also, because people with diabetes cannot process or regulate their blood sugar levels well enough, complications can arise for diabetics that have gum disease.
Oral inflammatory diseases — such as Glossitis, Stomatitis, Gingivitis, and Cheilitis — can also contribute to a higher risk of heart disease. This is because the inflamed blood vessels in the tongue, gums, mouth, and lips cannot push as much blood flow to the heart as required.
Those who suffer from plaque also need to maintain proper oral hygiene, as plaque may break off the blood vessel wall and travel to the heart or brain, which can trigger a stroke or heart attack (also known as myocardial infarction).
Taking good care of your oral hygiene can literally save your life!
Visit a Norwood Park dental professional
Regular visits to an oral health professional in Norwood Park, Chicago allows you to identify your oral issues early on, so they can be treated before developing into serious (more expensive) problems.
Conclusion
Your oral health can have a big impact on your overall health. There are several things you can do to maintain your oral health. Besides brushing and flossing regularly and eating a proper diet, visiting a dental professional regularly (at least two times per year) can help prevent most dental problems.
Contact a Norwood Park Dentist Today
If you’re looking for a wide range of dental care services from trained and certified dental professionals in Norwood Park, look no further than Smile Innovations. Contact Gordon J. Ziols, DDS, FAGD, today at (773) 763-1000 to schedule an initial appointment. Or you can email the Smile Innovations team at appointments@smileinnovationschicago.com and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as possible.