Your Mouth a Window to Your Health
Your mouth is teeming with both good and bad bacteria. Most of it is good and helps with normal functioning of your teeth and gums. The bad bacteria if left unchecked can cause issues including cavities and gum disease.
While gum disease is said to be one of the most common ailments in the world, most people don’t realize that gum disease can have serious health consequences. There growing body of evidence that the mouth is a window to our body’s overall health. In particular, gum disease has been closely correlated to other forms of ailments people generally suffer.
Asthma & Eczema
Studies have shown that asthma is the most common ailment correlated with gum disease. Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that patients suffering from gum disease were most at risk for developing asthma. It’s not that surprising when you consider that bacterial infection is considered to be the main cause for gum disease leading to respiratory problems such as asthma. Pneumonia is also said to be caused in certain cases where the bacteria in the mouth is transmitted to the lungs via the windpipe.
Whether it’s bacteria itself spread throughout the body or inflammation or even both which cause these problems is a topic of debate.
Asthma is closely associated with – atopic eczema, where the skin reddens, drys out, and becomes itchy and cracks. Dry and irritated skin is a fairly common problem and this sort of eczema is mainly triggered by allergens in the body. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that bacterial irritants in the mouth can migrate to other parts and may lead to minor allergies including Eczema.
Susceptibility to allergies, asthma and eczema are all correlated to developing gum disease. The best way to combat these ailments is to take much better care of oral hygiene.
Preventative Care
Golden rule for oral hygiene is brush the teeth twice a day and floss once a day. Brushing should be gentle, thorough and done before bed at night and in the morning, preferably for two minutes each time.
Also, most people are unaware of the fluoride content in their toothpaste. Fluoride is a highly effective natural element that protects your teeth from tooth decay. The recommended level of fluoride is 0.7-0.2 parts for every million parts of water. If you don’t have Flouride in your water it’s particularly important to use a toothpaste containing fluoride.