How does Dentistry Impact Your Overall Health and Quality of Life?
At any given point in time, you have over 500 species of bacteria living inside your mouth. Your mouth provides a warm, moist environment for these organisms to reside. Every day you swallow over a liter of saliva and around 100 billion microbes with it. The good news is, not all bacteria is bad for you! In fact, out of those 500 species of bacteria, only about 10 select species are labelled as being “prime suspects” whose acid byproducts can lead to tooth decay and gum disease.
Your mouth is constantly exposed to microbes in the air you breathe, food you eat, and water you drink. Even kissing or sharing a bottle with someone can result in bacterial transfer. After cleaning with products such as mouth rinse, bacteria still repopulate within minutes. This is part of the reason that it is virtually impossible to sterilize or keep your mouth “ultraclean”. So what does this mean? Before you throw your toothbrush in the garbage, keep reading!
[headline size=”medium” align=”center” color=”336699″]Now, more so than ever before, over 80% of the foods available for sale contain some form of added sugar and are processed.[/headline]Over the last few decades our diets have changed tremendously. Now, more so than ever before, over 80% of the foods available for sale contain some form of added sugar and are processed. Diets high in carbohydrate and low in pH can change the balance of good vs bad bacteria in your mouth. Combine poor nutritional choices with smoking and alcohol consumption, and you’re asking for bad news.
Products like toothbrushes, pastes, floss, and rinses act as tools in your defense. Removal of food particles and eliminating the proliferation of bad bacteria that flourish in certain environments are additional way we combat dental problems. And often you are not aware these problems are happening until they exist undiagnosed and result in acute infections leading to loss of tooth, gums and bone. Unfortunately once you lose those things, you never get them back.
Thankfully, dentistry has evolved at an astounding rate, providing us with treatment and product options that most people aren’t even aware exist. With these tremendous advantages in technology, even though now our children will live a shorter life span than us, the population is keeping their teeth longer which also helps to maintain a healthy diet and overall health.
Next time you visit the dentist, ask him or her to spend extra time educating you about the various options available to you. Believe it or not, we actually enjoy talking about what we do and how we do it! We are a proud profession, well-respected for our attention to detail and self-sacrifice for the good of our communities. Make us your ally, not your fear in your crusade against dental disease, because dentistry impacts your overall health and quality of life.
Oral health is one of the first distinguishing features that will deteriorate due to poor health in general. It might not necessarily be a direct correlation between an illness and dental health. But a lack of general dental care is a sure sign that the individual is not taking care of himself in other areas.
Thanks for sharing this blog post!