The Importance of Dental Care on Overall Health

In recent years, a lot of scientists and doctors have noticed a correlation between what someone does to their teeth and their overall health.  This was first noticed years ago, but it’s become something of a standard took to assess future heart risk in patients.  Bacteria in any person’s mouth can impact their heart health tremendously, but beyond that, it can also cause an increase in heart attacks and other chronic illnesses.  For that reason, most cardiologists tell patients that in order to take care of their body they must first take care of their teeth and maintain a healthy smile.

There’s no easy way to define good dental hygiene, but brushing and flossing several times a day is a good place to start.  This is by no means an easy task for most people, as it requires self-discipline, so dentists have created tools to make this a lot easier and make their patients maintain their teeth better.  One major thing people can do is to buy a sonicare style toothbrush, which is provide pulsing of the plaque and other buildup from your teeth.  Another is through daily mouthwash use at least once a day, which can help if a person is bad with flossing.  However the best thing any person can do is to go to their dentist and get regular cleanings.  When a dentist manually tends to your teeth, they can get out much of the stored plaque and other problems that can impact your health.  A lot of plaque may work its way below the gumline, for example, and that requires a dentist to clean typically.

Proper Dental Care and Weight Loss

A Healthy Happy SmileHeart health is directly related to a person’s ability to lose weight as well, as many studies have shown.  It’s never easy to lose weight if you cannot exercise, and having a healthy heart can make this a much easier task.  If a person’s overall health fails, so will their weight, which can compound the problems further typically.  This can be a very slippery slope for people to fall down into if they don’t properly care for themselves when it comes to their dental health.  We advise people to take good care of their teeth through brushing and flossing daily, but also to maintain their smile in order to prevent these terrible side effects from occurring.

Dental care requires attention to detail, and noticing any problems with your teeth early one.  One of the easier ways to do this is by checking your teeth every evening once you’re finished brushing.  Looking for any signs of decay or plaque build up if possible.  This will look like brown on your teeth that will not come off, or yellowish white areas, typically near the gums.  These are two the most common signs of decay and problems with your teeth.  Once you see something like this, you’d want to make your way as quickly as possible to your local dentist and to check with them on solutions to these problems.  The faster it’s taken care of, the less likely anything serious will come of it related to heart health later.