The Mouth-Body Connection

Did you know that bleeding of your gum tissues may be a sign of chronic inflammation and that this inflammation can lead to stroke, heart disease, complications in diabetics and low birth weight premature babies?

This inflammation in your mouth is something your dental hygienist can help you prevent with proper treatment. Your hygienist can also teach you proper oral hygiene techniques which will help your body recover and stay healthy.

Your mouth is connected to the rest of your body, so if it is unhealthy, your overall health will be affected.

HEART ATTACK & STROKE
There are recent studies that correlate the plaque-forming bacteria in your mouth with the plaque which can form in your heart valves leading to heart disease!

PREMATURE BABIES
When your body is infected with bacteria (such as the bacteria in your mouth which causes cavities and bone loss), it releases chemicals which communicate that it is under attack. These chemical signals can make your body react in such a way as to induce pre-term labor!

DIABETES
If you are diabetic you already know that, due to your illness, your body does not heal as quickly as a healthy person. Therefore, gum disease is more common in diabetics. People with poor diabetes control may also suffer from a dry, burning mouth. Lack of saliva increases your risk of tooth decay as plaque acids are not cleared away as quickly.

The good new is that your dental team is available to help you stay healthy, and not just in your mouth. Modern dental professionals are educated in diseases of the body which may affect, or be affected by, the conditions in your mouth.

This is why my blog is named Healthy Mouth=Healthy Body, and why it is so important to not put off that visit to your dental office any longer. If you would like more information on illnesses connected to oral health, Pfizer (the makers of Listerine) has a short explanation of multiple conditions and how they are effected by your dental health - click here to check it out.

How Nutrition Affects Your Mouth

We all know the old saying, "You are what you eat", right? Well, your eating habits have a huge effect on the health of your teeth! If you think about it, it makes perfect sense since your teeth and mouth are the first to encounter the food you eat everyday.

Probably the most obvious aspect of your eating that affects your teeth is the sugar content. Soft, chewy, sugary foods or carbohydrates that stay on your teeth such as white bread, taffy, sugar-based chewing gums and the like are smorgasbords for those hungry bacteria. Remember that the bacteria in your mouth breakdown sugars and carbs into acids that attack your teeth! The longer the sugary foods and drinks stay in your mouth, the longer the ACID ATTACK lasts.

Here is a great example: You are drinking a cold soda pop on a hot day. You are very thirsty so you drink the entire can in one quick gulp. The bacterial acid will attack your teeth for 20-30 minutes. On the other hand, say you are not that thirsty and decide to sip that soda pop every few minutes for 2 hours...your mouth is being assaulted by acid for over 2 hours!!! Not only is soda pop extremely high in sugar, it also is full of it's own acids - a double assault on your precious teeth.

The acids produced by the bacteria in your mouth cause two problems: the first is CAVITIES (the acids sit on the tooth until it is cleared away by brushing and flossing, and all that time it is eating away at the outside of your tooth - not good), the second problem caused by bacterial acids in your mouth is PERIODONTAL DISEASE (this one happens in two ways: the acids are attacking your mouth, PLUS when your body detects that it is under attack it automatically tries to fight off the invaders. However, some of the chemicals that your body produces to fight off the bad bacteria actually breaks down the bone that holds your teeth in place - really not good)!

Now that you know how harmful some foods can be if left in the mouth for the bacteria to munch on, lets find out what steps you can take to avoid these problems. The most important steps that you can take to avoid the problems caused by bacterial acids, is to try to eat less sugary foods and if you do eat sugary or starchy foods to always brush and floss as soon as possible afterward. You also want to try to eat a well-balanced diet with plenty of firm, fiber-rich foods such as raw apples, carrot or celery sticks, and whole grains. These are foods that help to clear your mouth of debris. Drinking plain water after or with a meal will also help to clear some of the food particles from your teeth and gums.

Your teeth are important and can never be replaced. Please take good care of them so they can take good care of you for many years to come! :)