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The Benefits of Great Oral Health

When we’re brought up, we’re taught the importance of brushing and flossing our teeth regularly: ‘if you don’t brush, all your teeth will fall out!’ However, there are a fair few other, less renowned benefits that arise from keeping our oral hygiene levels up to standard.   Because we’re lovely, we’ve put together this piece highlighting some of the most important ways that good oral health benefits us in general, rather than purely in a clean-teeth way.

It’s a great way to ensure self-confidence. A nice simple benefit to start with: having a healthy, clean mouth with shiny white teeth is simply a great way to ensure you feel as self-confident as possible. Needless to say, a lack of proper care will mean that your mouth will likely fall victim to gum disease and decayed teeth, neither of which are going to do wonders for anyone’s self-image, and both of which can have a genuine impact on the quality of life you have.

It can help preserve the memory. There have been a fair few interesting links made between gum disease and other disorders (some more of which we’ll cover more later on), but one of the most intriguing is the link found between the lack of memory recall and the presence of the gum disease gingivitis.   As reported in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, those with the disease performed worse on memory tests than those without the affliction. Keep the mouth clean, and keep the memory going!

It can lower the risk of heart and respiratory disease. Perhaps the most arresting thought on the list Is that gum disease has been shown to be linked with heart disease. Essentially, the bacteria that festers in a poorly looked-after mouth can travel downwards into the lungs, and from there into the heart. Keep your ticker in great nick by keeping those teeth clean and by flossing frequently.

It can help reduce the risk of mental disorders. As well as the above diseases, oral health has been shown to link directly to the patients chances of suffering a stroke, as reported in the American Journal of Medicine. As well as strokes, the same journal also noted that those who didn’t regularly brush their teeth had a 65% higher chance of then developing dementia as they got older.  

It can help increase the potential health of new-born babies. Top-notch oral hygiene doesn’t just have a positive effect on you, you know. Studies have shown that pregnant women who suffer from ‘pregnancy gingivitis’ – a mild form of the gum disease – and leave it untreated are more likely to give birth to babies who have a low birth-weight. Again, this is an extremely serious – and genuine – link, which makes a quick visit to Kool Smiles to double check your oral health more than worth the time.

It’s a great way to help you lose weight.   Whilst this is more of a psychological reason than a direct medical one, it’s been proven that, actually, regular brushing can help you burn away that extra fat and get healthier. The reasons? Well, there are two main ones: the first is a bit more obvious in that once you’ve had a lovely minty brush, the last thing you want to do is mess up that fresh feel with more food. Secondly, your brain is essentially programmed to think that once you’ve brushed, dinner-time is now over. ) Also, it saves you having to endure the horror that is a glass of orange juice, post-brush!)

It can help to reduce sexual problems. Yes, keep reading chaps – this one’s for you! Whilst it might sound strange, erectile dysfunction has been strongly linked with poor oral hygiene. A study conducted in Britain back in 2011 showed that four out of five men who suffered from erectile dysfunction were also suffering from gum disease. This, again, is due to oral bacteria entering the bloodstream and heading downwards, causing the penile blood vessels to narrow. Feel free to wince in your own time, and to never look at Colgate in the same way again!

It can generally help keep your brain healthy. In addition to warding off the more unpleasant mental disorders, great oral health has been shown to generally help maintain the brains’ cognitive functions according to researchers from the NYU, who found a strong relationship between negative mental progression and gum inflammation. So remember: keep those teeth clean, and keep that brain healthy!