The gateway to your insides
Your mouth is one of the gateways to your insides. From inside your mouth, things can travel down into your gut and into your internal organs. Things can also travel down another route into your lungs and from there into your bloodstream, and from there to all over your body, even into your brain. And, actually, you don’t even have to swallow or inhale for particles to get into your bloodstream. If you hold a liquid under your tongue, the dissolved ingredients within in can pass through the membranes of your mouth straight into your bloodstream.
So, imagine what havoc infectious germs can wreak across your entire body if you don’t pay careful daily attention to keeping your mouth clean and healthy. Here at Forest Dental, we believe that in Loughton, oral health can make a huge difference to people’s general health, and vice versa.
The relationship between your teeth and your body
If you don’t take care of your mouth, germs could get into your bloodstream and infect the inner lining of your heart, attaching themselves to damaged areas. There is also evidence linking the clogging of arteries and stroke to the inflammation and infections that oral bacteria can cause.
Conversely, if you are diabetic, this lowers your resistance to infection and will show up in your mouth as inflamed gums that bleed when you brush your teeth. Other diseases that can affect your oral health include osteoporosis, which can damage bones and teeth; rheumatoid arthritis, head and neck cancers, and Sjorgen’s syndrome, an immune disorder which causes a dry mouth.
Knowing all this, can you now see why we are so keen at Forest Dental for you to come to us every 6 months for a check-up? Check-ups are where we can see if you have good oral health. Dodgy oral health can show up as infections caused by tooth decay or the build up of plaque. It might be early mouth cancer tumours, odd stuff going on with your tongue that is indicative of something more serious. A lot of the symptoms of poor oral health, if spotted early on, can be easily treated, but if left to develop can lead to serious problems. Come and see us, and keep your gateway healthy.