Poor Oral Hygiene Could Lead to Heart Disease

by Stephanie Romero | More from this Blogger

03 Jun 2010 06:49 AM

I had always heard that oral hygiene played a part in the health of your heart. However recently it has been reported in the news that adults who have poor oral hygiene are at a 70% greater risk of developing heart disease. Those are very high chances.

A lack of good oral hygiene can lead to gum disease. The inflammation of gum disease can spread throughout your body, including to the arteries of your heart. If your arteries become inflamed then they can also become clogged. It's amazing how taking care of one part of your body can make all the difference in another part of your body.

Good oral hygiene includes visiting your dentist twice a year, along with brushing and flossing twice a day. Surprisingly, however, not everyone knows the correct way to brush and floss.

A quick brush over the teeth isn't enough. You have to spend time working in that mouth. Moving the brush back and forth, up and down and along the gum line is very important. You need to brush every area of your mouth, including your tongue.

The gum line might be one of the areas most missed in brushing. Gum disease starts in the gum line so it's important that area is thoroughly brushed. It's also important to not brush too hard and to make sure that you get those back teeth.

Flossing is another task that many adults are very quick about. A quick slide in between teeth and we're done. However like brushing, time needs to be spent flossing properly. You need enough floss to cover all of your teeth, about 18 inches of it. Most of the floss gets wrapped around your finger, leaving a couple of inches to work with.

To floss you need to move the floss up and down between your teeth. Then curve the floss so that it goes beneath your gumline. This should be done gently so that you don't cut your gums. As you move in between teeth, use a clean section of floss.

Good oral hygiene affects more than just your mouth. It can affect your heart so it's worth taking that extra time to do a thorough job.

Related Articles:

Are You Afraid of the Big, Bad Dentist?

Does It Hurt When You Floss?

Do You Floss?

Learn more about Stephanie Romero

Stephanie Romero is a wife and mom to three children ages 13, 14 and 18 years old. She writes web content for We Do Web Content and of course, blogs for Families.

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