What’s your primary dental fitness concern? Bad breath, bleeding gums, crooked, misaligned, or chipped teeth? Well, while you could be concentrating on concerns such as teeth whitening to confidently smile, other dental fitness considerations matter as they can affect your overall health, shortening your lifespan. Your mouth is a gateway to your body, and without proper care, it can lead to significant health concerns. It would help if, apart from your home dental health regimen, you schedule a regular check-up with your dentist to live a longer, healthier, and happier life. If you are wondering how dental conditions such as tooth decay could affect your overall health, here is a look at some of the conditions that you could be risking by leaving it unattended.
Heart conditions
Your mouth has bacteria, but in a controlled amount meaning, they are harmless. However, when an oral condition hits, such balance is affected, meaning that you will have more bacteria than needed. Such bacteria can consequently get into your bloodstream, causing plaque buildup in the arteries. This leads to arteries hardening, a condition known as atherosclerosis, a serious concern that leads to heart blockages and blood flow problems that leaves you vulnerable to a heart attack. What’s more, as the impact continues to buildup, hypertension is only a few inches away, not to mention increased chances of suffering from strokes. Your heart’s lining could also be infected, leading to a further fatal condition known as endocarditis.
Respiratory challenges
How’s your breathing? Well, the bad-breathe could be doing more damage than affect your smile and confidence as you interact with others. The bacteria accumulation due to poor oral health can get into the lungs through the bloodstream or even breathed into your lungs. The bacteria can cause life-shortening concerns such as pneumonia and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), among other respiratory severe conditions.
Brain conditions
How do Alzheimer’s disease and dementia sound? Scary and the conditions can significantly affect your health. This can result from gingivitis as the bacteria from the mouth gets into the nerve channel or the bloodstream. As you worry about inflamed gums from an infection, your brain cells could also be dying, leading to memory loss, among other brain conditions.
Diabetes scare
People with diabetes are susceptible to various infections, among them being periodontal disease. Apart from the oral challenge, blood sugar levels worsen, making diabetes control problematic. This, however, doesn’t only apply to people with diabetes, since the disease could lead to higher-than-normal blood sugar levels, increasing the risks of developing diabetes.
Dental conditions could be doing more damage than you initially anticipated, and as if the above concerns aren’t life-threatening enough, think of other concerns that could affect the health and quality of your life such as erectile dysfunction, infertility, pregnancy complications, not to mention weakened immune system that leaves you vulnerable to the slightest attacks. Observing dental health goes beyond your gums, teeth, and mouth as it also addresses severe concerns that could arise, stressing the need for a regular check-up with your dentist.
