Oral Health is More Than Just Flossing

Discover how dental health impacts your overall wellbeing, heart, and career. Don't underestimate the power of a healthy smile!

Your health is affected by teeth just as much as by catching the flu or getting an infection from a cut. Good oral hygiene is more than just keeping your teeth clean and controlling bad breath. It also affects your heart, mental health, ability to eat properly, and ultimately your general well-being. Dental health also affects your appearance and social standing. Letting it go can cost a lot more than a tooth. Poor dental health can also mean not being hired, being passed up for a promotion, or even being let go from a job based on an unprofessional appearance.

Good Oral Health is Easy Practice

The basics start out with what everyone learns as a kid growing up. Brush your teeth at least twice a day, floss and remove particles in between, use fluoridated water and fluoride toothpaste and eat healthy, avoiding sugar and poor nutrient snacks. Additionally, as people become adults, folks should avoid chronic smoking and alcohol drinking as well. And to make sure everything is working as it should, people should attend at least two dental visits a year, one of them being an exam with a full review and x-rays by a dentist in Fuquay-Varina NC.

The above list of to-do’s is not that hard to practice, but for some reason, people just don’t want to commit. When that happens, tooth and gum decay start to kick in. As children, cavities are the first sign of trouble, and that may result in a filling, but as adults, people end up realizing the added problem of gum disease. The latter can literally cause a person to lose their teeth under severe circumstances. And then a cascade of problems begins.

Added Reasons to Stay on Top of Oral Health

For those in particular health situations, regular checkups for internal health matter a lot. Just like with eye exams, diabetic patients should have regular dental exams to control gum disease, which can turn aggressive with high blood sugar levels.

Alternatively, those caring for incapacitated individuals or the elderly should stay on top of and confirm their regular teeth brushing and flossing as well as help these patients see a dentist on a regular basis. Those suffering from mental health conditions such as dementia, for example, tend to suffer greater dental problems being unable to care for themselves adequately. Coordination with a family dentist can really help in these situations. 

Protect Those Natural Teeth

Aside from baby teeth, people only get one set of adult teeth. After that, they are permanently lost and can only be replaced by dentures, bridges and implants, all of which can be uncomfortable and costly. Prevention is a far easier route to take, and it allows people to still enjoy their regular life without having to watch what they eat, worry about artificial teeth slippage and other problems with jaw bone deterioration, and more. 

So, remember, oral health is easy to do and maintain. Just get into a pattern, and work with your local dentist. Probably 9 out of 10 issues can be caught early, saving your teeth and keeping them in place for a long, long time.