Oral Health and Its Connection to the Body: Part One

Posted March 8, 2016

You already know that you need to help teach your kids the importance of oral care, so they can enjoy beautiful and healthy smiles as they grow up. But many parents don’t realize that a child’s dental health affects much more than just his or her smile. Because bacteria in your gum tissue can be carried to other parts of the body, through the bloodstream, inflammation or infection in your mouth can affect your entire well-being, not just your oral health. So as you strive to teach your kids about the importance of dental hygiene and preventive dental checkups, you should also consider teaching them how every aspect of their self-care affects their overall health. That way they can understand, from an early age, that in order to stay healthy, a person needs to take care of his or her whole body, including the smile!

You Know It Matters to Your Smile, But Why Else Is Oral Care Important?

It’s obvious that your oral health affects how great your smile looks and feels. The extent of your preventive care, including dental hygiene and checkups, affects how likely you are to develop dental problems ranging from cavities to gum disease.

But your oral health can also have a huge impact on the rest of your body as well. That’s because the soft tissues in your mouth can affect your bloodstream, which influences your entire body.

If your gums are damaged due to gum disease, for instance, it can cause inflammation, first in the gums, but that might then trigger similar responses in other parts of your body.