Are your pearly whites a sign of better health?
Cleaning, flossing your teeth and maintaining good oral health may be doing more than just giving you a great smile and healthy gums. It could also be keeping your body and mind healthier.
The Australian Dental Association provides information about how diseases in the mouth and body are connected as part of Dental Health Week (August 7 to 13). This year’s theme is ‘Mind, Body, Mouth. It’s all connected'’..
Would you be stricter about keeping to your six-monthly checkups with the dentist if you knew there’s a link between severe gum disease and heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s?
Bacteria in the mouth can move to different parts of the body, and inflammation in the mouth can cause the body’s overall inflammation to rise.
Issues with pregnancy, lung conditions and inflammatory bowel disease have also been connected to severe gum disease.
We’ve put together a quick summary on why it’s in your best interests to ake your next dental check-up sooner rather than later.
Heart disease
There is a strong connection between severe gum disease and serious heart conditions (cardiovascular disease). This is because gum disease can contribute to an overall increase in inflammation, putting you more at risk of developing and worsening heart disease.
Diabetes
There’s more and more evidence that gum disease and diabetes are connected. A person with diabetes has a higher chance of severe gum disease when blood sugar levels are not controlled, and gum disease may also negatively impact blood sugar levels.
Alzheimer’s Disease
There’s early evidence linking severe gum disease with Alzheimer’s Disease and cognitive decline. Studies have detected bacteria involved in gum disease moving to sites of the brain responsible for memory. It can be hard for people with these conditions to take care of their oral health, which means regular checkups and cleans are even more for them.
Inflammatory bowel disease
Bacteria travelling from the mouth to the gut can lead to abscesses and other reactions in the gut. A combination of severe gum disease and inflammatory bowel disease may increase overall body inflammation and make both diseases worse.
Lung conditions
Early evidence suggests a relationship between severe gum disease and some common lung conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obstructive sleep apnoea and COVID-19.
Pregnancy
There may be a link between severe gum disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes such as pre-term birth (early birth), low birth weight and preeclampsia (high blood pressure). The reasons are thought to be an overall increase in inflammation and bacteria travelling from the mouth to the placenta.
What can you do?
To keep gum disease at bay your can:
- brush your teeth twice a day using fluoride toothpaste
- floss once a day
- eat a healthy, balanced diet
- limit your added sugar intake
- visit the dentist regularly for checkups and preventative care.
Need dental health insurance?
Dental health insurance provides cover for procedures from a check-up through to bigger procedures like fillings and crowns. How much you’ll pay and the type of treatments and procedures you’re covered for will depend on your level of cover.
Keeping dental costs down
At RT Health we help our members access great value dental care to help curb the costs of dental treatment.
RT Health members have access to all HCF Dental Centres for no-gap dental services and other fixed price dental work.
How do I get covered?
We know that navigating your private health insurance options and costs can often be confusing. Let us do the hard work for you.
You can take a look at our range of Extras covers on our website.
And, we’re always here if you need a hand.
You can call our friendly team on 1300 886 123 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am-5:00pm AEDT/AEST) or reach out via email to help@rthealth.com.au
We’ll be happy to help.