How Oral Health Affects Overall Health

Your oral health plays a larger role than just giving you a healthy, beautiful smile. Your oral health is directly linked to your overall health. If you have dental complications, such as untreated abscesses or gum disease, you’re opening the door to a diversity of health complications. Poor oral care can produce a wide range of health complications, including cardiovascular disease, dementia, and respiratory infections. As your Blaine dentist, we encourage you to protect your overall health by maintaining your dental health.

Gum Disease and Overall Health

Among the biggest threat to your overall health due to poor oral hygiene is gum disease. Gum disease is the result of a bacterial infection. When left untreated, the growth of bacteria can enter the bloodstream and cause a diversity of health complications, including:

Cardiovascular Disease—The bacteria from gum disease can enter your bloodstream. Once it has entered your blood stream, it will travel to the arteries and the heart. This will then cause the arteries to harden as plaque builds on the inner walls of the arteries. Overtime, this decreases blood flow through the body, increasing your risk for heart attack and stroke. The bacteria can also infect the lining of the heart, causing endocarditis.

Dementia—It was recently found that the bacteria from gum disease is also linked to dementia. If the bacteria from gum disease enters the brain through nerve channels or through the blood stream, it has shown to cause Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Respiratory Infections—The bacteria from gum disease and infected teeth can cause infections in the lungs, such as pneumonia.

Diabetes—While gum disease won’t cause diabetes, the bacteria can make it harder to control diabetes. The inflammation from gum disease makes it more difficult to control blood sugar. Not to mention, since diabetics have a lower ability to fight infections, they have an increased risk for developing gum disease. This makes it extremely important for diabetics to practice proper oral hygiene.

Pregnancy—Poor oral hygiene is also linked to causing pregnancy complications. It’s believed, pregnant mothers with gum disease have an increased risk for premature babies, low birth weights, lung conditions, and heart complications. While there still needs to be more research, it appears the infection and inflammation from gum disease interfere with fetus development.

Osteoporosis—Recent studies have found that those with osteoporosis also have gum disease, however, the connection between the two still remains unclear. As of now, it’s believed the inflammation caused by gum disease can weaken bone in other areas of the body other than just the jaw bone.

Your Blaine Dentist

Our dentist office in Blaine is committed to keeping you healthy from the inside out. As a Blaine general dentist, we provide complete oral care to keep your smile healthy and beautiful. By doing so, we’ll help you protect your overall health by keeping gum disease at bay.

If it has been a while since you’ve last visited the dentist, please call our office at (763) 225-1851 to schedule an appointment.