Oral hygiene is perhaps one of the first health prevention lessons that we ever receive in life. When parents tell their children to brush their teeth or floss them regularly, they are actually setting them on the path of a happy and healthy life.
Maintaining a healthy mouth leads to a healthy body. This is because if your mouth is not clean enough, then it may harbor various types of bacteria.
This could lead towards causing serious health conditions in your body, with heart disease being one of them. That is why, from your dentist to your cardiologist, everyone keeps suggesting that you practice oral hygiene at all costs.
How Poor Oral Hygiene Causes Gum Disease?
Brushing your teeth twice a day may seem like redundant advice, but it is repeated for a reason.
This is because cleaning your teeth regularly does not only keep them sparkling white but also prevents any food particles from sticking to the tooth enamel.
When you do not clean your teeth, these food particles make their home over your tooth enamel and slowly start to harden. In addition to causing unsightly plaque and tartar, this could also lead to the birth of bad bacteria in your mouth.
In most cases, this poor oral hygiene leads to gum disease. This is where the bacteria is at its most active stage. This causes a host of issues such as bleeding, swelling, and inflammation in your gums.
How Gum Disease is Linked to Heart Disease?
When you fail to maintain optimal dental hygiene, bacteria from your mouth could make its way to your bloodstream, and then to your heart. That is where it could cause inflammation and heart diseases such as endocarditis.
Risks are not only limited to that. Bad oral bacteria can also be quite detrimental to your arteries. It could reach the point where it could clog your arteries, and cause other heart diseases. It doesn’t simply stop there but could lead to other serious issues such as stroke.
Maintaining Oral Hygiene is Necessary
Needless to say, this points to the fact that maintaining oral hygiene is necessary regardless of your age group. It is not difficult to maintain either. All that you need to do is to:
- Brush twice a day. This helps in maintaining an overall clean mouth and prevents buildup.
- Floss regularly. This helps in removing stuck food particles from between your teeth.
- Use a dentist-approved mouthwash. This makes sure that any leftover food particles are washed off and any bacteria build-up is prevented.
- Visit your dentist regularly. Even when you have a healthy mouth, visiting your dentist every few months helps detect underlying issues. This makes sure that your dental health is in optimal shape.
When to Visit a Cardiologist?
You should visit a cardiologist if you have not been able to maintain oral hygiene for a while, and have recently started feeling pain or inflammation in your heart or veins.
At OMNY Vein & Cardiovascular, we make sure to provide each of our patients with the attention they require through our experienced cardiologists and other health professionals.
Regardless of your age or the underlying cause of your heart problems, we make sure to reach the bottom of the issue using our advanced medical procedures.
If you or a loved one has been experiencing symptoms that could be related to heart disease, then contact us today!
