Good oral and dental hygiene can help prevent bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease—and

can
help you keep your teeth as you get older. Researchers are also discovering new reasons to brush
and floss. A healthy mouth may help you ward off medical disorders.

3 Reasons Why You Need Good Dental

Hygiene
Did you know the most important reason for good oral hygiene has nothing to do with your
teeth? Find out how dental hygiene has a profound impact on your entire body.

1. Good Dental Hygience Keeps Youth Teeth and Gums

Healthy
Although genetics play a large role in whether you get cavities, regular brushing and
preventative dental care help keep your teeth and gums healthy. Brushing removes the plaque
that causes tooth decay and stimulates your gums to help prevent gum disease.

2. Regular VIsits to Densist Lead to Early Disease

Detection
A key component to proper oral hygiene is regular visits to your dentist. Do you go every six
months? You should! Your dentist can detect a whole lot more than cavities from looking in
your mouth. Among the problems and diseases dentists can discover with a thorough
examination are:

 Vitamin deficiencies
 Acid reflux
 Tooth grinding
 Diabetes
 Osteoporosis
 Heart problems
 Dementia
 Mental health issues
 Oral cancers

3. Good Dental Hygiene Prevents Certain Diseases

Infections that start in your mouth can lead to even worse health concerns. For example,
gingivitis is a common inflammation of the gums. It can develop into periodontitis, a much
more serious infection that can cause tooth loss. Infections that start in your mouth have even
been linked to such complications and disease as:
  Asthma
 Arthritis
 Premature births
 Low birth babies
 Respiratory problems
 Coronary artery disease
 Stroke

Untreated tooth and gum disease can even lead to death!

What Is Good Dental Hygiene?

So what exactly is good dental hygiene and how do you make sure you’re doing all you can?
Follow a few basic rules of dental hygiene:

 Eat healthy and avoid sugary snacks

 Don’t use tobacco products
 Rinse your mouth out after meals or chew sugarless gum
 Brush at least twice a day
 Protect your teeth with a mouth guard during athletics
 Have your dentist apply sealant to your children’s teeth
 Get regular dental exams

If you already understand the importance of good dental hygiene, maybe you want to help
others see its value too. At Charter College, you could train to become a Dental Assistant in as
little as 10 months. Learn more about a career as a dental assistant or fill out the form on this
page.

The Importance of Oral Hygiene for Good

Health
The human body is comprised of a complex system which are interconnected with other parts.
Because of the way, the human body is made, one area of the body can have an impact on
different parts of the body. For example, take the mouth and teeth. If you have problem with
your teeth and gum, this can pose problems with other areas. Poor oral hygiene can lead to
problems with diabetes, heart disease and other health issues.

To prevent these health issues, practicing good oral hygiene is very important. People at an
early age should get into good practices. Regular dental visits, brushing regularly, flossing
and watching what you eat are all important steps in preventing dental diseases and keeping
you in good health.
To assists patients in practicing good dental hygiene, we have provided you with the
following resources and additional information. Please feel free to review this information and
to let us know if you have any questions on how to keep yourself healthy with good oral
hygiene practices.

The importance of a healthy smile

A healthy mouth can be a great asset.

Our teeth have such an important role to play in our lives. They help us chew and digest food,
they help us to talk and speak clearly and they also give our face its shape.

A smile also has other day-to-day benefits. It can give us greater confidence, as well as
influence our social lives, careers and relationships.

Because of this, it only makes sense to give our oral health the best care possible.

National Smile Month is our chance to take a look at our oral health, learn more about why a
healthy smile is so important and share tips on how to improve and maintain it.

Good oral health can have so many wonderful life-changing benefits.

A healthy smile can truly transform our visual appearance, the positivity of our mind-set, as
well as improving the health of not only our mouth but our body too.

But what exactly are the health benefits of having good oral health?

Keeping our teeth for life

By brushing our teeth twice daily, maintaining a low-in-sugar diet and regularly visits to our
dental professional, we can help reduce the risk of such diseases like dental decay and gum
disease – both of which can result in tooth loss.

Research has found that the number of teeth we have is a strongly linked to how long we will
live. Those with 20 teeth or more at the age of 70 had a considerably higher chance of living
longer than those with less than 20 teeth.

Tooth loss through dental decay and gum disease are almost entirely preventable and there’s
no reason why, with a good daily oral health routine, we cannot keep our teeth for life.

Reducing the risk of disease

When we have gum disease, the bacteria from our mouth can get into the bloodstream. It then
produces a protein which causes the blood to thicken. This means that clots are more likely to
form, and the heart is not getting the nutrients and oxygen it needs, resulting in increased risk
of a heart attack.

Similarly, gum disease can also cause inflammation of the blood vessels, blocking the blood
supply to the brain, leading to a potential stroke.

New research has also shown that we are more likely to develop diabetes if we have gum
disease.

Reducing the risk of cancer and dementia

By keeping our teeth and gums healthy we are more likely to reduce our risk of certain
cancers, particularly in women, as well as some forms of dementia.

New research, which examined data from 65,000 post-menopausal women between the ages
of 54 and 86, found those with a history of gum disease were 14% more likely to develop
cancer. Of these, one in three developed breast cancer while there was also a highly-increased
risk of lung cancer, oesophageal, gall bladder and skin cancers.

Those who have healthy gums are also 70 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease
than those who have suffered from gum disease over a long period of time.

Having a healthy baby

Pregnant women with healthy gums may be around three times less likely to have a baby that
is premature, reducing the risk of having a low birth weight. Research says there is a one-in-
four chance that a pregnant woman with gum disease could give birth before 35 weeks. This
is because gum disease raises the levels of the chemicals that bring on labour.

Maintaining our appearance

Keeping our teeth clean and healthy can help us steer clear of bad breath (halitosis). Bad
breath is very common and is often caused by a buildup of plaque and is a symptom of gum
disease and tooth decay, as well as being embarrassing and undesirable.

Another very common condition that can affect our appearance is tooth staining. Tooth
staining is natural and comes with the ‘wear and tear’ usually associated with smoking, or
drinking lots of tea, coffee or red wine.

Stained teeth are not usually harmful and tends to have little impact on the health of our teeth.
Although having stained teeth can make us feel a little self-conscious. 

In most cases we should be able to prevent surface staining with regular cleaning, while more
stubborn stains may need to be tackled by a dental professional.