Maintaining oral health means regularly cleaning your mouth and teeth to keep them disease-free. It includes brushing and flossing, as well as visiting your dentist for regular oral checkups and cleanings.
Oral health affects our general health and thus, maintaining proper oral hygiene is important to prevent many infections and diseases.
Why is it Essential To Maintain Oral Health?
- Oral Health Affects Your Overall Health
The mouth contains certain bacteria which are mostly harmless and help in the digestion of food, but the mouth is also the entry point of other bacteria into our body.
These bacteria can cause digestive and respiratory tract infections. To keep these bacteria in control, maintaining proper oral health is important as these bacteria can also cause oral infections.
Oral health also helps in the prevention of a serious gum disease called periodontitis. Oral health contributes to many other diseases like Endocarditis which is the infection of the inner lining of the heart chambers or valves.
Bacteria in the mouth can also be pulled into the lungs causing pneumonia and these bacteria can also enter your bloodstream increasing your chance of stroke or a heart attack.
- Prevents Tooth Loss and Other Oral Problems
Plaque is the accumulation of food and bacteria which happens in everyone’s mouth and needs to be cleaned off daily by brushing, flossing or using mouthwash.
Plaque buildup causes tooth decay and gum disease or gingivitis which is the inflammation of gums, ultimately leading to the loss of teeth.
Also, brushing ensures that minerals are applied to the teeth and desensitizes them. Apart from this, visiting dentist Marietta for regular dental checkups also helps maintain oral health.
- Poor Oral Hygiene Affects Saliva
We all know that saliva lubricates the mouth and is important in the process of digestion. But it is also an important diagnostic tool as it contains many hormones and enzymes as well.
Saliva is secreted from the salivary gland which helps heal wounds and disable certain pathogens.
It keeps the inside of the mouth alkaline preventing the growth of bacteria and the minerals calcium and phosphate help small lesions in the tooth enamel.
It also prevents the growth of fungus which causes a condition called oral thrush.
- Boosts Your Confidence
We all know that a healthy mouth means a beautiful smile which boosts our confidence. For a healthy smile, you need to maintain oral health and your Coppell dentist can help you with this through regular cleanups.
Poor oral health also means bad breath which is the buildup of plaque and needs to be dealt with as it could make you self-conscious and lead to many other oral diseases.
- Saves Money by Lowering Costs of Dental Care
Proper oral health can save you a lot of money by preventing other oral problems which could lead to dental implants or filling cavities.
Women with gum diseases have a higher chance of developing breast cancer which would later lead to gallbladder cancer.
Gum diseases are very common in patients with diabetes and treatment for all these diseases is quite costly.
So, properly maintaining your oral health can save you a lot of money in the long run. Poor oral hygiene and periodontitis can also lead to premature birth for women.
To properly maintain oral hygiene, you should know how to take care of your mouth. The most important thing is to brush your teeth twice every day using fluoride toothpaste and a soft-bristled brush.
You need to clean all areas of the teeth including the backside. Apart from this, it is also important to glass daily as toothbrushes cannot reach the areas between your teeth.
You need to apply the correct technique to brush and floss and for more effective cleaning you also need to brush your tongue as it can also contain bacteria. Using an antibacterial mouthwash also helps keep the bacteria at bay.
Mouthwash helps wash away food particles and prevents plaque buildup. You also need to visit your dentist regularly for routine checkups and cleanups.
Apart from this, you also need to avoid smoking and other tobacco products to maintain your oral health. You can also go for teeth-whitening to boost your confidence and self-esteem.
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