This probably won’t be surprising to hear from a bunch of dental professionals but looking after your oral health should be a top priority. Your mouth goes through a lot in an average day and plays a key role in promoting general good health. By looking after it, you protect it – and many other parts of your body – from bacteria and other nasties.
Regular check-ups and dental cleaning are an important part of maintaining your oral health. These checks can help identify any issues early and prevent them from becoming something more serious. They also help maintain your body’s natural defences, minimising the risk of infection in many other critical biological systems.
Here we look at the connection between your oral and general health. We explore what the health of your mouth says about your overall health, and how you can look after it. We also examine why regular dental cleaning should be part of your oral care routine.
The Importance of Maintaining Your Oral Health
As the only entry point for your digestive and respiratory systems, your mouth is a critical gatekeeper for your body. It helps control what gets in and where things go. It can also keep unwanted things out and neutralise potentially harmful things.
However, to do all of this, your mouth needs to be healthy. When it is, all of these things will happen naturally, without thought or concentration… or even awareness. When it’s not, there will be plenty of signs, both in the mouth and throughout the rest of the body.
Most significantly, poor oral health can be seen in the state of the teeth and gums. Dental decay and gum inflammation are both clear signs of issues with the health of the mouth. In addition to being painful and unpleasant, these conditions can also cause issues in other parts of the body.
Specifically, poor oral health has been linked to endocarditis (infection in the inner lining of the heart) and an increased risk of heart disease. Studies also suggest that oral health issues can cause pregnancy complications and pneumonia. These conditions are generally the result of bacteria from the mouth infecting other parts of the body.
Conversely, it’s believed that other health conditions can affect your oral health. For example, people with diabetes are more likely to develop severe gum disease and HIV/AIDS can cause oral lesions. Osteoporosis can also affect the health of the teeth (including causing teeth loss) and Alzheimer’s Disease has been linked to poor oral health.
It’s also worth noting the impact that medication can have on your oral health. Many common medications – like painkillers, antihistamines, and antidepressants – can reduce your saliva production. As it plays a key role in cleaning the mouth and neutralising acids, less saliva can mean more oral bacteria… and a greater risk of infection!
Tips for Keeping Your Mouth Clean and Healthy
The good news here is that most oral health issues are easily preventable. Good oral hygiene is usually enough to keep the naturally occurring bacteria in your mouth under control. As such, regular brushing, flossing, and dental cleaning can help protect your whole body from infection.
With this in mind, we generally recommend that your oral health care routine includes:
Brushing Your Teeth
This is one of the easiest ways to protect your oral health. It helps flush additional bacteria out of your mouth and minimises build-up on your teeth. We recommend brushing morning and evening (generally after meals), using a soft toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste.
Flossing Daily
While brushing your teeth will remove a lot of the additional bacteria, it doesn’t really get in between your teeth. This is where bacteria most often builds up and decay begins. Flossing daily will help dislodge additional bacteria and avoid build-up.
Rinsing with Mouthwash
To further flush out any unwanted bacteria, we recommend using mouthwash at least once a day. Mouthwash is a great complement to regular flossing as it helps keep the hard-to-reach areas of your mouth clean. It also gives you minty fresh breath… and who doesn’t want that?
Having Regular Dental Check-ups
No matter how diligent you are with your at-home oral health care, there will still be things you miss. However, a regular visit to your dentist will cover any gaps and make sure any issues are spotted early. As such, we generally recommend booking in for a dental cleaning and check-up every 6 months.
We understand that, to some people, this probably sounds like a lot of work. However, you only have one set of teeth and one mouth, so it’s worth doing what you can to protect them.
The Role of Dental Cleaning
As with anything in life, sometimes you just need to call in the professionals. While a great oral health care routine should prevent most issues, there are some things you simply can’t do yourself. For example, it’s hard to make sure your whole mouth is clean when you can’t get a good look at it all!
This is where regular dental cleaning can help. From their better vantage point, your dentist can make sure there aren’t any nasties hiding behind or between your teeth. They can also check everything else over and make sure there aren’t any issues arising that need your attention.
We understand that many people have reservations about having dental cleaning done. In fact, at this point, being afraid of the dentist is almost a cliché. But, don’t worry, we’re here to demystify the process a little.
Most dental cleaning sessions will start with a chat about your oral health and any issues you’ve been having. This will help us get a sense of your oral health and anything specific we should be looking for. It will hopefully also help you to feel a little more at ease with us and the whole dental cleaning process.
Once we’re all ready to go, we’ll begin by removing any plaque or calculus build-up. No matter how carefully you clean your teeth, there will invariably be some additional remnants we need to remove. And, once plaque has turned to calculus, it can’t be removed by simple brushing, so we’ll take care of it for you!
Then, once your teeth look like they’re free of all build-up, we’ll polish them with a gritty toothpaste. This will help reinstate some of their shine, remove some stubborn staining and make sure there’s nothing unseen still lurking on their surface. We’ll follow this up with a final flossing (just to make sure nothing’s been missed!) and apply a topical fluoride (to assist in strengthening your teeth).
After that, your dental cleaning is all done! We’ll have a quick chat with you about any issues we spotted and any further treatment needed. We’ll also let you know if there’s anything else you need to add to your at-home oral care routine.
Once that’s all done, you’re free to go! Generally, this process will take about an hour if you combine it with an exam and there will be nothing further to do (except book your next dental cleaning appointment!).
That being said, sometimes we may need a little longer to make sure everything’s looking spick and span. This could mean a longer appointment or that you need to come back for a follow-up. Either way, we’ll discuss this with you before we start any work and make sure you’re comfortable to proceed.
After a larger procedure such as periodontal treatment, you may experience some discomfort. If this is likely, we’ll recommend painkillers and possibly switching to softer foods. However, this will only be for a day or two, while your mouth settles.
Book Your Dental Cleaning Appointment Today!
If it’s been a while since your last dental cleaning, give Keys Dental a call. We are experts in dental hygiene and our experienced team loves helping people protect their smiles.
