First of all, you need your teeth to be able to chew your food, speak properly and even feel confident in yourself. If you don’t take care of your teeth, all those aspects of life will be affected. You won’t want to smile; you won’t feel self-confident; and worst of all, you’ll have trouble eating. If your teeth rot out or your mouth because you didn’t take proper care of them, you may have to limit the types of food you can eat. You may have to blend all your food together and drink it like a shake (hmm….doesn’t that sound appetizing?). Taking care of your teeth is an essential tool to basic human functions: eating, speaking and smiling.

Second, your dental hygiene usually indicates something about your overall health. If you’re not taking good care of your teeth, you’re probably not taking good care of your body in general. Maybe you’ve started eating poorly or stopped exercising. Either way, if you’ve noticed a general decline in the way you care for your teeth, step back and look at your life. Are you happy? Are you healthy? Are you eating well? Are you too busy? Do you need to readjust your priorities? If you’re spending too much time working and not enough time on yourself, your teeth may be showing the result. And that is never a good thing.

And now on to some suggestions for how to maintain good oral health.

1.Brush your teeth well twice a day using a soft-bristled toothbrush and ADA approved toothpaste. You may brush more than twice a day, just don’t overdo it (8 times a day would be overdoing it).

2.Clean between your teeth everyday. Yes, this means you need to floss everyday. You have two options when flossing: waxed or weaved floss. Some people have preferences for one or the other, but basically, both types get the job done.

3.Eat a balanced diet from the basic food groups, limiting between-meal snacks. One of the worst things people can do to their teeth is snack between meals, especially on sugary foods. Be sure that if you are going to snack that you eat something low in sugar like fruit, cheese, or vegetables. Try to avoid soda as much as possible, as it has no nutritional value whatsoever, and is only damaging to your teeth.

4.Visit your dentist regularly for checkups and professional cleaning. A dentist is the best judge of the health of your teeth. Sometimes s/he can see problems in your mouth that you would never have noticed (like gingivitis, for example). Plus, a dentist will clean your teeth much more efficiently than you can, so it’s worth it.

First things first, what is dental hygiene? Dental hygiene is cleaning your teeth daily by brushing your teeth at least two to three times daily with fluoride toothpaste that has been accepted by the American dental association. You also need to floss your teeth at least once daily to make sure you are removing plaque and other debris that might be caught in between your teeth. Another part of dental hygiene is eating a balanced diet and seeing your dentist for regular exams. All of this is part of dental hygiene.

Dental hygiene affects your health more than you think. If you do not brush your teeth regularly plaque can form. Plaque is a type of bacteria that forms right above your gum line. If you don’t keep up on your dental hygiene by brushing and flossing everyday the plaque will turn to tartar. Once plaque turns to tartar the only way to get it off is to go see your dentist. Your dentist has a procedure called scaling to take off the tartar. If the tartar is not removed you can develop gum disease such as gingivitis. If you develop gingivitis and do not get it treated it could turn into more serious peroidontitis.

Periodontitis is a serious form of gingivitis that is a stage of infection that is damaging. The damage includes weakness of bones, teeth becoming loose or even loss of teeth. There have also been recent studies that have proven that periodontitis can be associated with strokes, diabetes, and heart disease.

Periodontitis can lead to strokes, diabetes, and heart disease because of inflammation in the mouth. Inflammation in the mouth cause white blood cells and proteins to increase production that helps to fight infections. The increased production of white blood cells and protein cause a negative side effect. The negative side effect is that inflammation not only makes your gums inflamed, but the infection causing it gets into the blood stream and is carried down the inflammation into the arteries. Causing inflammation in the arteries makes them more vulnerable to the deposition of cholesterol and fats. Having deposition of cholesterol and fats in your arteries is what leads to heart attacks and strokes. Studies have shown people that have more plaque and bacteria’s in their mouths have a higher risk for heart disease and strokes.

Also if you have an existing heart disease you will need to make sure to keep up on your dental hygiene. Dental hygiene can affect your health. For example, if you start to bleed in your mouth and the bacteria from your gums get into your blood stream and stay on the abnormal valve it could cause a serious infection.

Another way that hygiene affects your health is when you get older. If you do not take care of your teeth now you might have to have dentures or you might have mouth infections. Having mouth infections or dentures that do not fit well can cause weight loss or malnutrition.

All of these examples are how dental hygiene affects your health. If you want more detailed information or have questions you want answered on how dental hygiene affects your health contact your dentist or doctor and tell them your concerns. Your dentist or doctor will be able to help you find out what you need to do to get the best dental hygiene based on your age and what health problems you have.