Top 10 Reasons to Practice Good Oral Hygiene

It is easy to understand why oral hygiene is important for your mouth. But did you know that poor oral hygiene causes problems throughout the rest of your body? Besides creating health issues, poor oral hygiene can create social issue for you too. Who wants to be known as the person with bad breath? If these aren't reasons enough to practice good oral hygiene, here are a few more:

Top 10 Reasons to Practice Good Oral Hygiene

1) Did you know that bad teeth, caused by poor oral hygiene, could give you a heart attack? Numerous recent studies have shown that ignoring oral hygiene could encourage heart disease and that there is a relationship between periodontal disease and a greater risk for developing problems with the heart and circulatory system. In a study at the University of Montana, researchers followed participants ranging in age from 57 - 75 with no history of stroke or heart disease. They scanned participants' carotid arteries for atherosclerosis and examined participants' teeth and gums, looking for signs of periodontal disease. Besides analyzing signs such as plaque on the teeth and pockets between the teeth and gum, they also counted the number of teeth each person - considering tooth loss to be a sign of past periodontal disease. The study showed that people with the most missing teeth had the most carotid artery plague.

2) Poor oral hygiene can give you systemic injuries. Pyorrhea is an infection of the gums and tooth-sockets. The infection starts beneath the edges of the gums and progresses into the membranes that attach the root of the tooth to the socket. There, a pocket is formed and as the pus is continually produced it is discharged into your mouth and swallowed. Also, as the tooth rises and falls in its diseased socket during ordinary chewing, bacteria are forced into the circulation and may be carried to other body parts, attacking tissues in which they can thrive including your heart, kidneys and lungs.

3) Practice good oral hygiene to keep all of your teeth. Pyorrhea is also the culprit of tooth loss. As this gum infection progresses, it destroys the membranes that attach the root of your tooth to the tooth's socket. A pocket is formed around the root and the tooth becomes loosened, eventually falling out.

4) Bad breathe, also known as halitosis, is caused by poor oral hygiene. Although there are other factors that affect the quality of your breath including smoking, gum disease, dry mouth and medicines, the primary cause of halitosis is oral bacteria. Control your breath by brushing, flossing and visiting your dentist for professional cleanings.

5) Good oral hygiene prevents cavities. One of the most obvious reasons to practice good oral hygiene is to prevent cavities. Acids that eat away at tooth enamel are caused by dental plaque. The bacteria in plaque consumes sugars and the waste product created from these bacteria digesting sugars is the acid that causes demineralization of tooth enamel and dentin. The more often and longer duration that food is in your mouth, the greater chance plaque has to grow. Minimize in-between meals and snacking. Brush twice and day and don't forget to floss.

6) Oral hygiene promotes a pretty mouth. Practicing good oral hygiene helps you to preserve your natural good looks. Your smile is one of the first things that people notice - and poor oral hygiene can speak volumes in an instant. If you have braces, oral hygiene is even more imperative. Spending thousands of dollars to straighten your teeth will seem meaningless if after you remove them you have white scaring on your enamel. Poor oral hygiene can allow plaque to work behind braces, causing white scars that could become permanent. Keep your teeth healthy, white and cavity-free with a nutritious diet, visits to your dentist twice a year and proper oral hygiene.

7) Oral hygiene prevents gum infection. Harmful bacteria called plaque are also the cause of gum disease. If you do not control plaque it will build up on your gums and irritate them, eventually causing them to bleed easily. When left uncontrolled the infection can attack your bone and connective tissues. Teeth will loosen and ultimately must be removed.

8) Oral hygiene is good for your bank account. Practicing good oral hygiene is the foundation of preventive dentistry, whose goal is to maintain healthy teeth and gums, and to prevent oral illnesses. A proper diet and plaque control will help you to safeguard yourself against dental decay and keep expensive repairs to your mouth to a minimum. While preventive dentistry, such as professional cleanings, is usually covered 100% by insurance, retroactive repairs such as root canals are not. Safe time and money by practicing good oral hygiene - and prevent expensive problems from rearing its ugly head.

9) Practice good oral hygiene to keep your energy levels high. Lack of sleep, hectic lifestyle and stress can weaken the body's defense system and affect overall wellbeing. When you have an infection in your mouth, it can cause your immune system to be constantly elevated. This constant elevation can affect your energy levels, making your feel tired more often as well as increasing your susceptibility to other illnesses.

10) Good oral hygiene is your most simple, economical way to keep a happy, healthy smile. Brush, floss, visit your dentist regularly cleanings and checkups, eat a healthy diet, drink lots of water and stop smoking. Following the proper approach to oral hygiene will held you keep a full, durable and brilliant set of teeth for your whole life.

Main cause of Halitosis, Bad Breath

What can be main reason behind bad breath? Well, according to clinical 

studies, all that build-up of bacteria on the tongue is the main cause. Not just bad breath, but also other maladies of the mouth, even gum disease, have been shown to be somewhat linked to those odour-causing bacteria.

Keeping our breath fresh is actually quite difficult because bacteria (unfriendly ones), find it really easy to hide on the tongue. Why? Well, notice the texture of the tongue - just look in the mirror now and see... they love to hide there. A plaque builds up on the tongue (consisting of bacteria and other bacterial by-products) most noticeably at night, and stays there undisturbed, whether or not you brush your teeth in the morning.

If you want to effectively remove the film of plaque, brushing your tongue with a toothbrush will not work. You will only stir it up.

The American Dental Association News recently reported that halitosis experts agree that the dominant cause of bad breath is the bacteria on the tongue.

This is a recent quote from Time Life Magazine: "When saliva collects in the mouth - particularly in depressions at the back of the tongue - and is digested by oral bacteria, powerful odours can result."

Volatile Sulphur Compounds (or VSCs, similar to the gasses released by a rotten egg) build up on the tongue. They are the waste products of the bacteria, and they smell terrible. Recent research suggests that these VSCs may even be the first factors to bring about the gum disease itself, and active gum disease also results in the release of more of them.

While volatile sulphur compounds are the principle causative agents of bad breath, the bacteria that live in our mouths also produce other waste products, and some of these have their own unpleasant odours too. A few of these wastes are:

Cadaverine - this is what we smell from dead bodies

Putrescine - decaying meat-like smells

Skatole - the characteristic smell of human faecal matter

Isovaleric acid - the smell of sweaty feet

I bet you are surprised to learn that this pleasant cocktail of odour-causing chemicals is found in the human mouth, and everyone has them. Our breath always has some level of these compounds in them.

Normally, we can't even detect these compounds with our noses because the levels are usually very low. But when they increase beyond a certain level, other people can pick them up, and that's when we are said to have "bad breath."

Along with normal mucus productions, food particles left over after eating stay on the tongue and create a nice coating which is an ideal hiding place for the bacteria. Also, the rough texture of the tongue aids in their hiding.

Here they are safe. Why? Because they don't like oxygen, in fact they will die from exposure to it, and when the coating on the tongue is undisturbed, they are happily making their smelly chemicals and giving you bad breath.

This is the primary cause of bad breath, or halitosis. It also leads to increased risk of decay (especially root surface decay), and a decreased sense of taste. There are no shortcuts or magic pills - cleanliness is the solution.

You now know the main cause for bad breath. So, always keep your mouth clean as much as possible.  

How long should the Numbness and tingling remains after dental anathesia?

Many patients feels discomfort and even a little fear when the anesthesia remains for hours after extraction or root canal. Normally the numbness will remain for 2-4 hours in lower teeth and 1-2 hours in upper teeth. Some times the tingling may remains a little longer if the case needs more than one injection.

General speaking if the numbness remained for more than 6-8 hours you should call your your dentist although in the vast majority of cases it will heal shortly. If the tingling remained more than 12 hours you should see your dentist immediately specially if the extraction is on the lower jaw.

Before judgement you have to collect knowledge, Get a closer look to Islam.

Some times during lower wisdom surgical extraction the nerve may get pressed a little which may cause temporary nerve injury or even complete nerve cutting in rare cases which can be the cause of prolonged tingling.  But generally this type of complication is not common in any extraction except the lower wisdom surgical extraction and still very rare even with wisdom extraction.

In these cases you should see your dentist immediately to treat the case before the temporary damage becomes permanent.

Does dental care prevent heart attacks?

How can teeth, a part of the body so relatively insignificant, that it can even be pulled out almost at will, have an effect on one of the most important and almost irreplaceable body parts – the heart?

For decades, most scientists and reflexology practitioners have argued how each part of your body is connected to others, and how proper treatment of some of the most unnoticed body parts can have huge benefits on the most invaluable ones. Being one of the most complex systems in the world it is invariable that there are little known links within the body.

This is true when it comes to teeth as well. Professor Howard Jenkinson of the Bristol University, along with the Royal College of Surgeons, has identified the link between poor dental health and heart disease through their studies.

The risks of poor dental care

The mouth has almost 700 different types of bacteria living in it. Some bacteria are the harmful kind. But, there are harmless bacteria as well. These bacteria help in breaking down food particles. Every time you eat, drink or even open your mouth the numbers of bacteria in your mouth increase. Through regular brushing and proper dental care the bacteria are kept under control.

However, improper dental care can result in gum infections, gingivitis and similar oral diseases. This causes the harmful bacteria to enter the blood stream. Streptococcus gordonii and Streptococcus sanguinis are some of the bacteria causing oral infections. Such bacteria have been identified to be factors resulting in heart disease.


How to prevent heart disease

It has been the case that certain antibiotics do not seem to work against heart disease. It is possible that oral bacteria could be the reason. Professor Jenkinson and Dr Steve Kerringan are working to find a solution to this. Until such time, prevention of oral diseases and maintaining proper dental hygiene and care is the best possible method in protecting yourself.

Regular brushing, especially after meals, is the main method of keeping mouth disease at bay. Protection can be further enhanced by the use of dental care products such as anti-bacterial sprays and mouthwash. This will help to prevent against oral bacterial diseases. In turn, this would also protect against one of the causes of heart attacks.

Dental Implant: The Best Remedy For Tooth Loss

Tooth loss, in most people, is associated to a number of factors. Some of these factors that cause tooth loss are tooth decay, gum disease or periodontal disease, injury and aging. Research done on a large group of adults, to study the increase in the number of people with one or more teeth missing revealed that more than half the group fell in this category.

Most of those with missing teeth did not bother to get a tooth replacement done because of not understanding the underlying problem of a missing tooth. Just twenty five percent were aware of the fact that the loss of a tooth could wear out the bones of the jaw causing a change in structure of the jaw line.

Consequences Of A Single Tooth Loss

Studies show that a single tooth loss could have many repercussions some of which are mentioned below:

    * There would be a structural change in the jaw
    * Other teeth would get relocated as even a single gap among the teeth would cause the other teeth to shift.
    * There would be a change in the contour of the face; the shape of the face.
    * There would be a drooping, hollow look to the jaw which is not appealing to the eye.
    * This look would, in the long run, lower one’s self esteem and have a bearing on his eating behavior.
    * Biting and chewing certain types of food would be a problem, like hard fruits and fibrous vegetables, causing one to miss out a person’s normal staple diet.
    * There is a tendency, at such times, to eat fatty foods that are soft and easily
      chewable and to avoid hard foods that are necessary or required for the body. This leads to increase in extra weight, which is a sign of impending illnesses such as those dealing with the heart and diabetes.


Treatment Of Tooth Loss:

There are many ways to treat tooth loss, the most effective of which is dental implant. Dental implant is an alternate method to replace a missing tooth. Here an artificial ‘tooth root’ is used. These tooth roots are the basis for the artificial teeth that are either permanently fixed or can be removed. They are made to look similar to natural teeth.

Dental implant is the most preferred treatment for tooth loss for a single tooth or for more than one tooth. This is because it has shown a 98 percent success rate. Medical tests show that dental implant is most successful treatment as a replacement for lost teeth. Secondly, this surgical method allows for minimum bone loss that is why it is favored over other forms of treatment.

Dental implant is the safest, most accurate type of surgery conducted to replace a missing tooth. A dentist, experienced in this surgical procedure, would help to get the accuracy and also show positive results. So if you are planning on doing a dental implant it would be advisable to search out an experienced dentist to avoid any possibility of the implant going wrong.