Dental Care – The Impact on Heart Health

Overall health is one facet that can often impact weight gain and obesity related illnesses on its own. If a person is generally unhealthy or battling diseases, they will almost always struggle to keep weight off and maintain their physical health. This is caused by a lack of will to exercise, given the poor energy that often occurs with illness and also damages their fundamental abilities to lose the weight using any clinical treatments. Maintenance of overall health and preventing illnesses from cropping up can be just as important as trying to keep your weight off. A high performing immune system, and healthy diet, along with proper care of your body can go a long way to maintaining a proper weight in the long-term.

Heart health is an area that we should all pay attention to, but alone it’s not typically thought of as responsible for weight gain. However, when a person gains weight, they often generate heart disease over time which can be fatal and a permanent burden on the individual with medical costs and other problems. Recently it was discovered that dental health, proper brushing and dentist maintenance of a person’s teeth, can prevent heart failure by a significant margin. This occurs primarily through the bacteria that live in the person’s mouth, as they can get into the bloodstream slowly over time which increases risk of sickness and lowers immune response. The exact mechanism for how this damages the person’s heart still remains a mystery, but the evidence is quite strong that good dental care can prevent serious complications related to cardiovascular health.

What Does Good Dental Care Demand?

Proper dental care isn’t just brushing and flossing, but requires regular cleaning and maintenance visits to a local dentist as well. Plaque can still build up over time even if the person is committed to proper care of their teeth. Flossing and tongue scrubbing, in particular, have been most identified to proper oral hygiene as it relates to heart health. Doing these things can reduce the risk of developing heart disease by around 40%, according to the most recent study information. Also it was found that those who have good oral health also typically have excellent physical health, including a lower risk of obesity. This is likely both a result of them choosing to eat less sugar, and could be related to other immune responses providing better energy for the person to exercise and maintain a healthy diet/exercise balance.

A few key ways to maintain dental health:

1. Brushing at least twice a day for at least 60 seconds, and flossing at least once a day. Using mouthwash can be good, but it often kills both the good and bad bacteria in your mouth. It’s advisable to avoid doing so if you keep up with your brushing and flossing regimens
2. Regular Dental Visits – Get your teeth cleaned regularly by a professional hygienist. This will identify any problems early on and keep them from turning into something worse that could affect the long term health of your body (such as gum diseases).
3. Get braces for any crowding fairly early on. If your teeth are too close together without proper gaps between them, it can be extremely difficult to maintain proper oral health. Not only will cavities be more likely, but bacteria will have tight spaces to thrive without being reached by flossing or regular brushing.