How does oral health affect heart health?
So most of us wonder, does my mouth really have an effect on my whole body? And it does. What's crazy is, so the mouth is the gateway to the body. So as the gateway, if the mouth is not in good shape, we can't expect the rest of the body to be in good shape. One of the main ways that our oral health affects our overall health is the heart. And so if we have conditions like gum disease or even like a tooth infection, cavities, bacteria is what causes each of those problems. And what happens is that bacteria enters our bloodstream and it can travel to the heart. So there is strong research that shows that infections in the mouth actually can cause high blood pressure, it can cause heart failure, and even it can lead to stroke. So you never hear someone die of a gum disease or a mouth issue. What you always find, you always hear is, oh, they died of a heart attack or they died of a stroke. But what caused it, though? And it's very fascinating that when they've done research and they did a biopsy on the heart or something after someone had an event, and they find bacteria from the mouth. And so that's why having a clean mouth is so important. And it shows that people who have a healthy mouth actually live seven to 10 years longer than people who don't. So it literally affects your entire lifespan. And so those are just a few ways that your mouth can affect the heart.
How does oral health affect diabetes?
Another thing that your oral health can affect is diabetes. So if someone has diabetes, they're trying to work hard at managing it. Well, if someone has disease in the mouth, any time that there is infection, our blood sugars in our bodies elevate because infection puts our body under stress. And when our body is under stress, it thinks, well, hey, I have to fight. I have to stay alive. And so our cells actually release sugar because we want sugar in our blood because sugar is what powers our muscles, believe it or not. And because our body is thinking, I'm in a stressful situation, fight or flight. And well, when your body is not truly under stress because you just have gum disease, well, your body is still releasing sugar, which makes it harder for someone to manage their diabetes.
Why is that bad if we can't manage our diabetes?
Well, it can have a life-threatening impact. Diabetes impacts all of our organs, affects our brain, affects our kidneys, our pancreas, our liver, so many parts of our body, our eyes, our nervous system. There's so many effects of diabetes and it's just so terrible on the body. And so and what's amazing is when we clean up someone's mouth, we get rid of the disease in their mouth. And so you can literally automatically see blood sugars drop and become more stable. So that's just and also too, one of the leading causes of tooth loss is gum disease, which leads to bone disease. And so when you lose the bone, well, then your teeth fall out because that's what supports the teeth in the mouth. Well, diabetes is one of the main causes of gum disease. And so we want to get the diabetes under control and like I said, part of it starts with getting the mouth healthy.
Why is dental care important during pregnancy?
Not only does having a clean mouth affect your overall health, but even if you are a woman who is pregnant, well, it affects the baby's health. And so because again, the bacteria in the mouth go into the blood where the blood goes to the baby. And so what we see is you can have babies develop medical complications, heart issues and low birth weight. There's so many things that can cause preterm labor. So our overall oral health affects - if we're pregnant affects the baby's health as well. And so that's like I said, it's the full gateway to the body and so we got to get that gateway healthy.
Is there a link between oral health and cancer?
Now another thing that our oral health can impact is and can make someone at risk for it is cancer. What people don't realize is that when they have an unhealthy mouth, again, that bacteria in the body goes throughout our body and it creates inflammation in our body. And the more our bodies have to fight against inflammation, well, that puts us at risk for cancer. And so there are many, many studies that show that intestinal cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, there's many types of cancers that are affected by our mouth. And like I said, it comes from the toxins that the bacteria is released and also comes from just the bacteria and the bacteria causing inflammation throughout our body. And a lot of times when they go in and they remove these cancerous lesions, they'll find bacteria that is only found in the mouth embedded in the cancer. And so that's why it can even create those types of complications for people.
And so kind of like what I was saying is how it can affect cancer. It's because it causes inflammation. Well, anytime we have inflammation in our body, it weakens our immune system because our body is having to expend resources to try to attack this inflammation, attack these bacteria. And so then if our body is distracted by this disease that's happening in our mouth, well, then we can be more susceptible to other types of viruses and illnesses and diseases as well. And so overall, we can actually have people who have gum disease and other types of oral conditions tend to get sick more often. And so that's why it's important to get under control for that reason as well.
So I hope this video just addressing how your oral health affects your overall systemic health was informative and helpful to you. Our goal is to give people the greatest vitality. What that means is we want people to live the fullest of lives. And so we know that the mouth is one part of that, but the mouth can have such a massive impact on someone's overall health. So I hope this video is informative for you. If you have more questions, please call our office at (210) 972-0768. You can also look on our website for more of this information at InspiredDentalSA.com. Thank you for your attention. Talk to you soon. Bye bye.