Your oral health consists of many different aspects. For example, dental and periodontal care encompass most treatments that address the health of your teeth and gums. Your oral health is also closely related to your overall systemic wellbeing in many different ways. For instance, if you have severe gum disease, it could have a significant influence on your risks of other chronic inflammatory diseases. If you have a sleep breathing disorder, like sleep apnea, that involves oral tissues clogging your airway, then it could negatively impact your cardiovascular and other systems over time. Today, we examine a few aspects of the oral-systemic connection, and how understanding it can help you improve your quality of life.
Periodontal and other diseases
Many of the chronic conditions that affect your systemic wellbeing are inflammatory in nature. When your immune system has trouble controlling inflammation, the rampant swelling in certain organs and areas of the body can cause significant trouble. Inflammation is also the driving factor behind oral health conditions such as periodontal disease, which leads to the continuous erosion of your gums and periodontal ligaments. In the case of periodontal disease, this inflammation is incited by certain types of harmful oral bacteria. As your gums become compromised and bleed, these microbes can enter the bloodstream and travel beyond your periodontal tissues, increasing your risks of experiencing excessive inflammation elsewhere throughout your body.
Sleep apnea and health concerns
The influence that inflammatory gum disease can have on your health risks is well-known, but many patients don’t realize that their oral-systemic connection may involve more than just gum disease. It might also include the connection that disorders like sleep apnea can have if not treated in time. Sleep apnea is a condition caused by mouth and throat tissues collapsing into your airway while you sleep at night. The condition can often be treated with a custom-designed oral appliance that helps keep your airway open. However, without treatment, you’ll continuously stop breathing and lose sleep as your body constantly has to wake up and clear your airway. Over time, this can overstress your cardiovascular systems, as well as increasingly worse symptoms of sleep deprivation, a weakened immune system, increased risks of mental health issues and dementia, and much more.
Learn more about oral-systemic health
The oral-systemic connection is the pathway through which chronic oral health conditions can have a notable impact on your systemic wellbeing. For more information about how to optimize your oral-systemic health, schedule a visit by calling Syosset Dental in Syosset, NY today at 516-433-2211 or 516-921-1678.
