San Francisco and Marin CA
Anyone who has ever experienced even a mild toothache can understand the importance of good oral health. A healthy mouth is not only pain-free, allowing people to eat foods and go about their day-to-day activities without dismay or discomfort, it is also a significant part of one’s appearance and speech, allowing a person to be sure in his or her smile, breath, and speaking.
On the other hand, the reverse is also true: an unhealthy mouth can take away all these things, leading to pain and anxiety in appearance, speech, and overall demeanor. Worse, decay or damage can have additional consequences on overall health: studies have shown a greater chance for diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke, as well as an increased risk for premature birth and low birth weight in pregnant women.
Therefore, good oral health is very important. How can oral health be maintained?
Preventative measures
The first step to sustaining oral health is scrupulous attention to hygiene. This means regular brushing and flossing. In addition, since even the most vigorous hygiene programs can miss some spots, going for regular dental checkups is a must, since dentists and hygienists can catch what brushing can miss.
This is especially true if the patient is pregnant. Since pregnancy can alter a person’s taste and food tolerance, dietary alterations may result, which can increase the danger of cavities. Likewise, hormonal changes add to the probability of developing gingivitis, which occurs in about 70% of pregnancies.
Fixing bruxism and sleep apnea
Sometimes, teeth can be harmed even if the patient is very strict about their hygiene regimen. One such danger is from bruxism, or the grinding of teeth while asleep. Severe grinding can wear down the enamel of the teeth, which has the same result as dental decay. Stress and certain kinds of medicine can cause bruxism, as can obstructive sleep apnea. This condition causes the tissues of the throat and mouth to relax during deep sleep, which blocks the airway and forces the brain to wake the sleeper to resume breathing. Bruxism occurs very frequently with sleep apnea, so treatment for one can often treat the other.
Whatever its cause, bruxism should be brought to the attention of a dentist, who will offer treatments to keep grinding from affecting the teeth.
Drink water and rinsing
Drinking water has many positive health effects, and some of these include benefits to oral health. This is because water does much to counteract the biggest threat to healthy teeth: tooth decay.
Tooth decay is ultimately caused by naturally-occurring bacteria in the mouth, most notably Streptococcus mutans. S. mutans is in so-called sugars, which include sucrose (the chemical found in actual table sugar), as well as glucose (present in starches) and fructose (which is in most fruits and is also the main sweetener in high fructose corn syrup). S. mutans converts these into lactic acid, which wears on the enamel of teeth (the hard white outer covering of teeth) and can wear holes into it enough to let in infection. Moreover, many foods and drinks either contain sugars, have high acid levels themselves, or both: soft drinks (even ones without sugar likely have high amounts of acid), vinegar, soy sauce, red wine, and tomato sauces are all notable for this.
Drinking water neutralizes the acids responsible for this degradation of enamel. Enamel is restored by ions in saliva that bond to the enamel in teeth more readily in the presence of fluoride. Since fluoride is in the water supply of nearly every town and city in the United States, drinking water is very helpful for oral health. Just rinsing the mouth with water after meals can have most of the same effects.
Steer clear of tobacco
Tobacco is hazardous to health in general and is particularly harmful to oral health. In addition to the yellowing effect it has on tooth enamel (due to the fact that nicotine turns yellow in oxygen, and the tiny particles of sticky tar in cigarettes cling to the teeth), nicotine tends to reduce saliva. This does not allow the saliva to have its restorative effect on enamel, allowing the acid in the mouth to do more damage.
Good Oral Health
Correcting bruxism, drinking water, and avoiding tobacco can go far in promoting oral health. The best way to maintain oral health is to keep up with brushing and flossing and go to regular dental checkups. Dentists will also provide further information to keep the mouth healthy.
To learn more or to schedule a consultation, please call Glen Park Dental at (415) 585-1500.
