How General Health impacts Oral Health

Did you know that your general health may impact your oral health? New research has shown that poor oral health puts you at risk for various ailments, but let’s flip it around.  Here are health-related issues that can impact oral health.

First is diabetes, which is something that is incredibly bad for your oral health, but also eyesight, kidneys, and heart. If you have periodontitis, you’ll have issues with producing insulin. Dry mouth or bleeding gums can also be an underlying condition of this, and having dry mouth means less saliva, making you prone to cavities.  Typically, wounds heal more slowly too, so oral problems including gum infections and mouth ulcers will take longer to heal.

Osteoporosis is another one. This is a debilitating condition for many women than men. People that suffer from this do have a weakened bone density, and this includes the jawbone, so this can cause you to have issues with denture fittings, and women are actually three times more likely to suffer from tooth loss if you have this than those who don’t. Calcium intake is a crucial part of this, and it can affect the health of a woman

HIV and AIDS are another.  Usually, those who have either one of these suffer from more problems than those who don’t. Many times, the dentist is the first to discover oral signs of HIV, and those include mouth ulcers, oral warts, thrush, lesions on the tongue, and gum inflammation which is common for people with this. It is very important that HIV patients take care of their health by following a healthy lifestyle and being smart with their antiviral medication. Oral infections do spread, which can lead to complications and death if you’re not careful since this condition does weaken the immune system.

Asthma is another one, and there are actually two ways this can affect the teeth. Asthma medications that cause dental cavities can affect the teeth, especially if you must take them to prevent attacks. Prolonged use of this definitely will inhibit salvia production on the teeth, leaving the gums and teeth susceptible to infections. Whenever an asthma attack strikes, it also can cause acid reflux, which can happen sometimes, causing the teeth to have tooth erosion.

Then there is anxiety and stress. It does actually cause problems with the teeth, since whenever we suffer from anxiety, we tense up, tighten the jaws, and clamp down on teeth. Then there is teeth grinding, which can eventually happen in some cases, especially whether awake or asleep. If you do suffer from this, make sure you try to use a nightguard to protect the teeth while you sleep.

There are health conditions which can impact you orally, and here, we discussed a few of them. If you suffer form these conditions do talk to your dentist about it, and see how you can rectify these problems and make your oral health not just better temporarily, but in the long run.