Overview
Dental and oral health is an essential part of your overall health and well-being. linked to heart disease, strokes, diabetes, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, Alzheimer’s and dementia.”
Maintaining healthy teeth and gums is a lifelong commitment. The earlier you learn proper oral hygiene habits — such as brushing, flossing, and limiting your sugar intake — the easier it’ll be to avoid costly dental procedures and long-term health issues.
Good dental habits can help prevent things like cavities and gingivitis, but you may not know what conditions like these really look like or how they can affect your mouth.
Causes of dental and oral diseases;
Your oral cavity collects all sorts of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Some of them belong there, making up the normal flora of your mouth. They’re generally harmless in small quantities. But a diet high in sugar creates conditions in which acid-producing bacteria can flourish. This acid dissolves tooth enamel and causes dental cavities.
Bacteria near your gumline thrive in a sticky matrix called plaque. Plaque accumulates, hardens, and migrates down the length of your tooth if it isn’t removed regularly by brushing and flossing. This can inflame your gums and cause the condition known as gingivitis.
Increased inflammation causes your gums to begin to pull away from your teeth. This process creates pockets in which pus may eventually collect. This more advanced stage of gum disease is called periodontitis.
There are many factors that contribute to gingivitis and periodontitis, including:
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poor brushing habits
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the use of medications that reduce the amount of saliva in the mouth
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family history, or genetics
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hormonal changes in women
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acid reflux, or heartburn
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frequent vomiting, due to the acid
Top Issues
Cold Sores (Fever Blisters)
Cold sores are fluid-filled blisters that erupt on your lips, under your nose or around your chin caused by a virus known as herpes simplex virus type 1. Once you have them, you’re likely to get them again. Extremely contagious, they can be passed to others from the time you feel the first symptoms (like itching or tingling by your mouth) to the time they heal completely. Cold sores are often red, yellow or gray and usually heal within a week or two on their own. Your dentist can prescribe antiviral drugs within the first few days of an outbreak to help it heal more quickly. Over the counter drugs are available to help with pain, itching and burning they might cause.
Cavities
If you truly have a cavity, depending on how deep it is, you can remineralize your tooth. Your teeth are living organs and disease can be reversed. There is always a root cause to disease and decay is no different.
Your diet is KEY. Soda is the number reason for decay. If the saliva in your mouth drops below 5.5, you will likely get decay. Soda has a pH of 2.5-3.5, battery acid is a one. It takes 3 days for your body to come back to a natural pH of 7 from one soda so if you are constantly drinking it, then you are keeping your entire body in an acidic state constantly.
How do you think you can maintain good health if your organs are staying in a vat of 2.5?
Your teeth are the windows to your bones. Soda leaches the calcium right out of your bones. A lack of vitamin D is an underlying cause to decay. If your body isn’t getting what it needs, it will take it from someplace else. Learn more about how to remineralizers your teeth .
Chipped Tooth
If you regularly chomp on hard foods like nuts or ice cubes, grind your teeth or have a mouth piercing, you’re at a higher risk for a chipped tooth. You might feel pain, depending on how much tooth has been lost. You may also feel a rough edge when you run your tongue along it.
If this happens, see your dentist. A small chip might be able to be smoothed down. Your dentist can use a tooth-colored filling, a veneer or crown to shape up your smile after a larger chip.
Teeth Grinding
Grinding your teeth (bruxism) is most likely to happen when you’re sleeping, though it can occur anytime during the day if you’re stressed, have a new filling or crown that’s higher than the rest of your teeth or have an abnormal bite. Over a long period of time, the surface of your teeth will become worn. You could experience toothaches, dull headaches or earaches, and jaw pain (TMJ). Your teeth may also appear more yellow because the white outer covering is worn away.
A custom mouthguard from your dentist can protect your teeth during sleep and correct bite issues. If stress is the cause, find a way to relax. Meditation, counseling and exercise can help reduce stress and anxiety (and the likelihood that you will grind your teeth).
Gingivitis
Gingivitis is the earliest stage of gum disease, an infection of the tissues around your teeth caused by plaque. If you have gingivitis, your gums may become red, swollen and bleed easily. You may also experience bad breath. Because gum disease is usually painless, you may not know you have it.
You are more likely to develop gum disease if you skip brushing and flossing, use tobacco, have crooked teeth that are hard to keep clean, are pregnant, have diabetes or take certain medications. When in its early stages, the disease is still reversible and your gums can be returned to good health with a professional cleaning from your dentist, along with daily brushing and flossing.
Periodontitis
Periodontitis is the more advanced form of gum disease, a major cause of tooth loss in adults. According to the CDC, nearly half of U.S. adults suffer from it. The disease can be reversed in early stages, but damage may be permanent the longer it goes untreated. Although you may not be aware of the gum disease in your mouth, abscesses can develop which usually painful. Symptoms include bleeding, swollen gums, persistent bad breath or bad taste, loose permanent teeth and a change in bite. Your teeth may appear to become longer as gums and bone recede. There are many treatments available, including deep cleanings known as scaling and root planing. Talk to your dentist to find out what’s best for you.
Thrush
Simply Silver Mouthwash is an excellent remedy for thrush because colloidal silver naturally kills fungus as it only harms the bad bugs, not the good ones.
Darkened Tooth
Learn why you should not get a root canal if one is recommended to you. You have options. Please do your research on root canals before you go down that path.
Canker Sores
Canker sores are small white or gray sores with a red border that appear your lips, the back of your throat or under your tongue. Use warm salt water rinses and until it heals .They are also more common in women.
Canker sores aren’t contagious and usually heal on their own after one or two weeks. Over-the-counter creams and mouthwashes may give you temporary relief. Until it heals, stay away from hot, spicy or acidic foods because these can irritate the sore.
Cancer
Each year, approximately 40,000 new cases of oral cancer and cancers of the throat, tonsils and back of the tongue are diagnosed. Tobacco use, alcohol abuse and HPV all increase your chance of developing these cancers. Men are twice more likely to get oral cancer than women. During regular checkups, your dentist will check your mouth for symptoms like red or white patches, sores that won’t heal and rough, crusty spots. If anything suspicious is found, your dentist will order more testing or refer you to a specialist. The image above is only one example of how oral cancer might appear.