When you see a dentist on a regular basis, you hear a lot of information, advice, and requests for you to care for your teeth in the best way possible. We talk about it a lot here at Plano Smile Studio.
We know our patients are trying their best, and we appreciate that effort. We also know that everyone has room for improvement, which is why we are always seeking to encourage our patients toward better oral health.
What you might not realize is that we do this for more reasons that one. This is about more than your teeth. This is about your future health! We know what is at risk, and we want to be sure that you are able to live a long and healthy life!
Oral Health is Important
Your oral health is very important, don’t get us wrong. Maintaining oral health through great hygiene has many benefits for you. It will make you feel more confident about your smile, and a healthy smile is one of the best gifts you can give yourself!
Confidence
Healthy smiles are confident smiles. There’s no hiding behind your hand, and you don’t care if someone asks to take your picture because you are always ready to smile. Having a confident smile makes meeting new people, presenting at a meeting, or just hanging out with your friends all the more enjoyable.
Healthy Smile
Having a healthy smile just makes you feel good. You will feel clean and ready to take on the world! There’s nothing else quite like it. Not only does it make you feel good on the inside, but it has a huge impact on your overall systemic health.
Systemic Health Impacts
Systemic health refers to the health of the rest of your body. It has long been known that gum disease is connected with other, more deadly, conditions in the body.
Pregnant women know to see their dentist at least once during pregnancy because gum disease is linked to preterm birth and low birth weight. It has also linked to heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.
We don’t know all of the connections, and we don’t know why these connections exist, but we are happy to share the information we do know so that you can see that these relationships are a very serious problem that needs to be addressed.
Heart Disease
We have long known that heart disease and gum disease were linked. Recent studies may be able to explain why. It seems that when your gums bleed, the gum disease bacteria enters the bloodstream and clings to blood platelets. More and more platelets stick together until a clot forms.
Blood clots floating through your veins will cause all sorts of issues from symptoms of heart disease to a full-blown heart attack.
Cancer
Researchers studying men’s health found a surprisingly high statistic when looking at the rates of pancreatic cancer. Men who had gum disease were 64% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.
This statistic is a huge tell-tale sign that there is a definite link between gum disease and cancer. Other cancers have been connected with gum disease, but this pancreatic cancer study is especially alarming.
Alzheimer’s Disease
We study Alzheimer’s disease in many ways, but one way is to compare the brains of patients with the disease and patients without. The gum disease bacteria p. gingivalis was discovered in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, but it was not found in the brains of those without.
Again, we don’t fully understand why this happened, but isn’t that information alarming to you?
Making Better Choices Affects Your Whole Life
The final truth is that your entire health is related. The things going on in your mouth DO have an impact on the rest of your body. Caring for your teeth is about more than just your teeth. Your entire future could depend on it!
Contact us today to learn more about the connections between gum disease and systemic health. We have only mentioned a few today. You can also set up your next appointment or exam and talk with us in person! We can’t wait to see you soon.
