Healthy Teeth Equals Healthy Body

Having healthy teeth is a reason for a great smile. But more than that, it tells you that your body is healthy as well. A healthy mouth and a healthy body go together. Hence, if there’s a reason that something is wrong in the body, it may very well be linked to poor oral health.

Gum Disease

Periodontitis can affect the whole body, though it clinically manifest only in the mouth. There are several serious diseases which are caused by gum diseases, such as, stroke, diabetes, heart attack, osteoporosis, respiratory diseases, digestive disorders, and low preterm birth. Untreated gum diseases can also affect your immune system. With this variant of disorders, untreated periodontal disease can reduce life-expectancy.

There have been studies linking chronic gum disease with heart issues. Cardiovascular diseases that include heart diseases, strokes and blood vessel blockages are some of the common issues associated with poor oral health. Remember that healthy teeth lower the risk of heart diseases. Your dentist will stress the need for regular dental checkups due to the link between oral health and cardiovascular health.

If you have diabetes, you’re already at increased risk of developing gum disease. But chronic gum disease may, in fact, make diabetes more difficult to control. Infection may cause insulin resistance, which disrupts blood sugar control.

If you have a healthy immune system, the presence of oral bacteria in your bloodstream causes no problem, as your immune system quickly dispenses with them, preventing infection. However, if your immune system is weakened, maybe due to a disease or cancer treatment, oral bacteria in your bloodstream may cause the development of an infection in another part of your body.

Severe gum disease may increase the risk of preterm delivery and giving birth to a low birth weight baby. Oral bacteria tend to release toxins, which reach the placenta through the mother’s bloodstream and interfere with the growth and development of the fetus. At the same time, the oral infection causes the mother to produce labor-triggering substances too quickly, potentially triggering premature labor and birth.

With proper oral hygiene, a balanced and healthy diet, and regular dental visits are some key measures that can reduce the risk of gum damage resulting to infection in the body.

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Watching Your Oral Health in Bellevue

Your Bellevue dentist says that good oral health is a mirror to your overall health. When you think you should have a checkup, visit Overlake Dental.

Watching Out For Snoring Patterns

If 1 in 4 American males and 1 in 3 American females snore – that’s a huge company of snorers. So why do some people snore? According to some experts, we tend to lose muscle tone when we’re asleep. The tongue flops back and the tissues and muscles in the throat and nose relax. While inhaling and exhaling, air passing over and between these relaxed tissues causes them to vibrate, which in turn causes noise.

So why do some people snore and others don’t?

There are factors that play, for example, obesity in a person. Fat deposits at the base of the tongue and along the upper throat take up more space and can push in the muscles and block off air passage. Another is sleeping on your back, which can cause the tongue to sag into the throat where it may constrict air flow and increase the vibrations. Drinking alcohol can further relax the muscles and tissues of the airways, and so promote snoring.

Snoring can also be brought about by structural anomalies or differences in the immediate area. One example is a deviated septum. It’s that wall inside the nose that separates the nostrils. If it is askew, air circulation can be pinched off. If the uvula, that dangling tissue that hangs down in the back of the throat, happens to be longer than usual, it can relax and rest on the tongue, enabling snoring.

Sleep Apnea

While snoring is not a major problem in most cases, sometimes it is. If a person has sleep apnea of the obstructive type, which is extended breathing stoppages, it had been associated with an increase in cardiovascular disease risk, when there is snoring also. Snoring and sleep apnea may lead to intermittent hypoxia, insufficient oxygen in body tissues that can put unhealthy pressure changes inside the chest, cause arterial damage or blockages, and inflammation.

In obstructive sleep apnea, there can be complete lack of breathing for 10 seconds or longer. A breathing device, to use while sleeping, called a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) ventilator can be the treatment along with weight loss. Surgery can also apply, if necessary.

Some snoring patterns may be suspicious, like if it sounds like a person has shallow breathing for a few seconds or often quits breathing for a while, accompanied by gurgling or choking and with some shaking – as if the body is trying to wake itself up – a doctor must be consulted. Sometimes, a non-snorer suddenly developing a new-onset severe snoring, it can be sign of an obstruction forming in an airway. So, see a doctor. Aside from watching your diet, you can downgrade your alcohol consumption, and try sleeping on your side instead.

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Consulting Your Snoring in Bellevue

You might have sleep apnea and not know it and regard is as just plain snoring. See us at Overlake Dental for this concern and don’t ignore it.

It’s All About the Enamel

Did you know that a quarter of children have dental decay by the time they start school?

Parents do their best to avoid tooth decay in their kids – tooth brushing regularly, limiting sugary treats and drinks, using fluoridated water. But despite parents’ best efforts, some children’s teeth are inherently weak and decay more easily.

It was previously thought that only a very small minority of people have this rare genetic condition called amelogenesis imperfecta or enamel malformation. Amelogenesis imperfecta is a disorder of tooth development. It causes teeth to be unusually small, discolored, pitted or grooved, and prone to rapid wear and breakage. Other dental abnormalities are also possible. The condition can affect both baby teeth and adult teeth.

Hypomineralized Second Primary Molars

However, there are recent studies that have reported that up to 14% of preschoolers may have “hypomineralized second primary molars” (or HSPM). It’s a condition where the enamel of the second baby molars doesn’t develop properly, making them weak and prone to damage.

The teeth of children with hypomineralized second primary molars may have white or yellow patches with rough areas where the weak enamel has broken off. Teeth can be so weak that they’re unable to cope with the demands of chewing and break down soon after they come through the gums. They are often highly sensitive and children may avoid brushing them because they hurt. Such sensitivity, combined with the weak enamel, means dental decay occurs more readily.

Dental care for children with these teeth is challenging, the usual anesthetic agents are less effective and treatment is painful. The usual filling materials do not stick to the enamel and they don’t last due to poor enamel quality. These kids need to have dental treatment more often and may contribute to more dental anxiety and phobia. However, if the baby teeth are affected, the adult teeth are also more likely to be affected.
What can be done? A healthy diet and good brushing can help, but precautions are needed. Dentists can detect signs of weak teeth before they break down and help protect these teeth using seals or fillings that cover weak parts. It’s so important to have regular dental visits, starting as early as 12 months of age, or when the teeth first come through.

Prevention is Key in Bellevue

Be sure you bring your children to Overlake Dental for their first dentist visit. It is best to prevent future dental problems.

The Purpose and The Problem of Wisdom Teeth

Most people develop a third set of molars in their late teens or early 20s, a period ushering in adulthood, becoming more wise and mature, supposedly. Hence, the teeth are called wisdom teeth. That is just about there is to it. But knowing all the problems that come with them, you’d ask if it’s wise to keep them at all.

Why are they there in the first place when you don’t see the rationale?

Apparently, there was a point, but one that brings you back thousands of years ago – when humans evolved. Prehistoric man would catch and tear into their food using their mouth, causing a great amount of wear and damage to the teeth. When teeth are lost then it becomes difficult to eat and hence, difficult to survive. At some point in the evolution, a replacement set of molars came in later in life, and this provided a backup system for eating.

While wisdom teeth were advantageous to our ancestors, why is it more of a disadvantage for us in this modern age? While we now cook our food, those extra molars are no longer necessary, yet we can’t leave them alone. They are now a burden.

The problem now is that the size of our jaws decreased but our body kept making wisdom teeth. There is not as much room to come in so they often come in at odd angles and will mess up our other teeth. In these cases, the wisdom teeth have to be removed surgically.

Now we know how it all came down to us, and so these times, many dentists advice wisdom teeth removal to decrease the chances of dental problems in the future.

Wisdom Teeth Removal in Bellevue

Now you know why we have our wisdom teeth. If you are having issues with them, don’t hesitate to come for a consultation at Overlake Dental in Bellevue.