{"id":378,"date":"2018-03-20T09:08:12","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T09:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dentistelreno.com\/blog\/?p=378"},"modified":"2018-03-13T12:08:24","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T12:08:24","slug":"protect-overall-health-dentist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dentistelreno.com\/blog\/protect-overall-health-dentist\/","title":{"rendered":"Protect Your Overall Health with Your Dentist!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"healthy<\/a>It\u2019s March here in Oklahoma, which means the days are getting longer, and pretty soon, we can start saying \u201cgoodbye!\u201d to the cold weather for the year. Something that few people know about, however, is that today, March 20th<\/sup>, is World Oral Health Day. It\u2019s an occasion where your dentist in El Reno and other medical professionals try to raise awareness about how the health of the mouth directly influences the health of the entire body. So, in today\u2019s blog, your dentist is going to reveal why the health of your mouth is so important as well as share tips on how to keep it, and the rest of you, healthy year after year.<\/p>\n

Oral Health Is<\/em> Overall Health<\/h2>\n

The mouth is the gateway to the body, in that pretty much anything that is in the mouth can go everywhere else inside you. This is pretty easy to understand when you think about how digestion works. You chew food, it goes into your stomach, and then your digestive system breaks it down so it can enter your bloodstream and travel all around your body.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this also means that potentially harmful things, like bacteria, can enter the body through the mouth as well. This is especially concerning when it comes to gum disease, an infection of the gums, roots of the teeth, and the bone that support them. The gums are very vascular structures, in that they have a lot of blood vessels, so it\u2019s easy for anything that is on them to go directly into the bloodstream.<\/p>\n

According to more and more research, a person who has gum disease is also much more likely to develop other systemic illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and even dementia. Scientists around the globe believe this is because gum disease bacteria is entering the body, traveling somewhere else, and causing inflammation, which is the precursor to many harmful conditions. That\u2019s why keeping your mouth clean and healthy is so important, in that it prevents this from happening in addition <\/em>to giving you a beautiful smile.<\/p>\n

Healthy Oral Healthcare Habits<\/h2>\n

So now that you have this information, how can you take care of your mouth in a way that safeguards your overall health? Fortunately, it basically only involves standard oral hygiene, which you\u2019re likely already familiar with.<\/p>\n

To keep your mouth and<\/em> body healthy, you should:<\/p>\n