With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across America, many dental offices aren’t seeing patients for routine appointments. But it’s important to keep up with your oral health until you’re able to be seen in the office. Dr. Vijay Patel of Claremont Dental Institute, a dentist in Claremont, CA, discusses why your oral health is so important.
Our smile is something that everyone sees at some point. Teeth are often one of the first things that someone else notices about you. If you have prominent tooth decay or are missing teeth, that’s something that people are going to notice. Crooked teeth are going to show as well. You may be less likely to smile with your full mouth if you have poor oral health. Poor oral health can lead to low self-esteem and self-confidence in your smile.
Poor oral health can lead to your mouth not even being able to do what it’s supposed to be used for. For example, missing teeth can make it hard to bite, chew, or even speak. Tooth decay can cause tooth sensitivity and pain, making it hard to do any of these things as well. Crooked teeth can make the pressure of your bite uneven, causing pain and possibly breakage on teeth that are hit harder.
The state of your oral health impacts the entire rest of your body. If you have gum disease, for instance, you often have bleeding gums as one of your symptoms. With the openings that are created due to bleeding gums, bacteria can make its way into them and into your bloodstream. This allows bacteria to spread throughout your body, causing issues in other areas.
Gum disease also causes a lot of inflammation. Your body will be trying to constantly fight that inflammation caused by the disease. This takes away resources that your body could be using to defend against other infections and diseases. It makes you susceptible to getting other conditions because your immune system isn’t at its best.
Having gum disease increases your chance of getting many other systemic diseases and conditions. Particularly, gum disease is linked to a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and other heart problems. Issues with pregnancy and low birth weight are things to be aware of if you’re a mother or planning to be.
Poor oral hygiene can lead to you spending a ton of money on care for your oral health, as well as other diseases down the road. The cost of preventative care, by visiting your dentist and brushing and flossing regularly, is much less. If you want to keep both your overall health and wallet intact, it’s important that you focus on your oral health.
If you have a dental emergency, call us immediately. Otherwise, we’ll be here to help you with your oral health and routine dental appointments when the pandemic is over. Call us or schedule an appointment for the future online. We hope we’ll be seeing you very soon!
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