How does oral health affect heart health?
Oral health and heart disease have been shown to be linked together. People who have severe gum disease unfortunately are at a higher risk of developing heart conditions such as hypertension and other forms of heart disease. A recent study from Harvard actually showed that people with severe gum disease that's uncontrolled, they are at about a two to three times more likely chance to have a heart attack or have a stroke. So this is how oral health affects overall health and why it's so important for us to stay on top of those regular cleanings.
Can oral health impact diabetes management?
Yes, again, there has been a link shown between diabetes and gum disease. An issue that occurs is that when you're diabetic, you unfortunately can't recover from infections as well as you can for someone who's well controlled or doesn't have diabetes. So a big issue is that we tend to see gum disease get severe a lot quicker in someone with uncontrolled diabetes compared to somebody who is healthy. Another big issue with diabetes is that because you are usually urinating more, you don't tend to have as much saliva in your mouth, which can make your mouth dry. This also can lead to things like cavities and or letting opportunistic infections such as a fungal infection like thrush come about and that can be an issue when trying to keep your mouth healthy. Therefore part of managing your diabetes with oral care is making sure that you're doing really good brushing and flossing at home. That way we're removing as much of that bacteria from the teeth as possible and then making sure that you are coming in frequently for your cleaning so that we can try to remove as much of that bacteria from under the gums as we can and that's going to give you the best chance of maintaining your diabetes and gum health long term.
Why is dental care important during pregnancy?
When it comes to pregnancy and dental health, one of the main things that we're trying to avoid is gum disease. One of the big issues during pregnancy is because of the changes in hormones in the body, you're much more likely to develop inflammation of your gums or gingivitis. The problem with gingivitis is that it can end up turning into gum disease over time, which is the loss of bone around your teeth and that unfortunately is permanent damage that can't be undone. So in order to prevent that, the oral care during pregnancy that we should be looking for is coming in every three months for cleaning so that we can stay on top of removing bacteria as well as a really good oral hygiene routine at home in terms of brushing twice a day, flossing every day so that we can stay on top of this because that gum disease risk in pregnancy is so much higher. The other thing about maintaining good oral health during pregnancy is there have been some studies that show that when oral health is good during pregnancy, the risk for preterm birth and lower birth rates is much less as well. So that's an added bonus to make sure that your baby is healthy when you deliver.
Is there a link between oral health and cancer risk?
Unfortunately when you look at oral health and cancer or you're looking at the gum disease and cancer link, unfortunately there are quite a few studies that are now starting to show there is a link between poor oral health and developing certain cancers such as liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, and oral cancer. So with any cancer, one of the main things is that we always want to try to detect it early. So when we look at dental checkups for cancer prevention, one of the main things that I'm doing during any of my dental checkups is that we do an oral cancer screening so that we're looking at all the areas of the mouth to make sure there's no kind of unusual lumps or bumps or anything that's out of place that needs more investigation. The other portion of the dental cleaning or the dental checkup is getting the dental cleaning done and by maintaining your oral health and staying on top of it with the dental cleaning that will also help to reduce the risk of that cancer developing in the first place.
How can poor oral health affect the immune system?
When we're looking at oral health and the immune system, one of the big issues with poor oral health is that your mouth is in a state of chronic inflammation. So the problem with this is that your body is chronically trying to fight off the bacteria that are growing underneath the gums and putting all of its immune cells towards fighting that infection off. This unfortunately can leave other areas of the body more vulnerable to getting infections. So the impact of oral infections on immunity, a lot of studies are showing that you are at an increased risk of getting respiratory diseases or you know developing pneumonias as you age which obviously we want to avoid so that we can keep you healthy. When we're looking at boosting immunity with oral health care, generally that just means staying on top of things so that we don't get into that chronic inflammation state and that includes coming in for regular cleanings to remove that bacteria from under the gums but also even more importantly staying on top of your at-home care by brushing twice a day, flossing once a day so that we can keep everything healthy.