Did you know that your dental health can have very widespread affects on your body and mind as a whole system? Hopefully, you are starting to realize that exercise and eating healthy food can transform your body and the way that you feel through out the day. With all of this concentration on the exercises we perform, and the food we eat, dental health can be left by the way-side.
You may be doing the absolute minimum dental care possible, or even practicing dental habits that can harm your body and stop you from reaching your health goals. Here are four ways that dental health connects to the health of your body and mind, as well as quick fixes that can help you up-level your health through caring for your teeth properly.
1. Bacteria Travels
Bacteria in the mouth can become a problem for your health. If certain kinds of bacteria increase in numbers, and create gum disease, this can lead to infection in other parts of the body including your heart. Chronic diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease have been linked to gum disease. To control the bacteria in your mouth, you need to brush your teeth correctly at least twice a day, and floss at least once a day. Regular trips to the dentist are vital. Don’t let bacterial infections spread through your body and impede your health goals.
2. Confidence In You
A healthy smile leads to increased self confidence. We all know that when we feel our best, we are better able to tackle our big, audacious health goals, such as running a marathon, crushing a cross-fit class, or dropping that last ten pounds. Even if your health goals are more modest, like walking three times a week, you need to feel energized and motivated to make your goal a reality. When you have a bright, beautiful smile you have a better self-image, and that boosts your motivation to go after your goals.
3. Cut Out Bad Habits
Having good dental health means saying no to cigarettes and chewing tobacco. This affects the rest of your body as well — not just your oral cavity. When you say no to these bad habits, you save your gums, tongue, and the tissue on your inner cheeks all of the stress and strain of introducing a carcinogen to the environment. The carcinogens which are present in cigarette smoke and chewing tobacco lower your immune system, and lead to increased risks of cancer. They can also decrease your ability to perform physically demanding tasks, such as training. In the short term, you might feel like the tobacco gives you energy or helps you avoid over eating, but these short term “benefits” are actually silencing your bodies natural instincts, and cause a great deal of damage. If you are addicted to tobacco, work with a health care provider to make a plan that will help you get free of this addiction. Your dental health will improve, as will the health of your body and mind.
4. Whitening Your Smile
Do you think of a white smile as just an aesthetic quality? It is actually much more than that. Keeping your smile white can help you develop discipline and health in all areas of your life. When you focus on reaching a goal, like having a white smile, it means that you are caring for the body that you are living in. Treating your body with love and attention has widespread health benefits. You are less likely to over eat, for example, when you are focused on keeping your body in peak condition. Experts such as Karl Jobst Grove OK dentist and oral hygiene specialist have reported that coffee and red wine can stain tooth enamel. When you see these direct links between what you put into your body, and how your body looks, you find that your choices really matter. This is a powerful lesson to learn.
Changing your relationship to your oral hygiene leads to a transformation in how you treat your body as a whole. When you focus on developing good dental health habits, you will find that the health of your body and mind tends to increase as well. If you focus only on your physical training and eating habits, yet ignore your oral health, you will be missing out on many health benefits, and you may be even causing blockages to peak health.