Oral health diseases are closely linked to your lifestyle, and strong oral health is an essential commodity to general health and well-being. Your lifestyle choices impact oral health. Choices such as regular smoking, consuming alcohol, using prescribed medication, stress and a fad diet containing excess sugar and starchy foods are all lifestyle choices impact oral health in a negative way, and this will sooner or later lead to overall health conditions and consequences.
The state of your oral health says a lot about your lifestyle choices, and wearing a shiny smile is a sure sign that your lifestyle choices are catered to keeping your teeth and gums clean.
What Constitutes Positive Oral Health?
Your lifestyle choices impact your oral health. Here are the key factors that constitute positive oral health:
- Being free from facial and mouth pain
- Zero signs of oral and throat cancer
- No oral infections and sores
- Zero signs of periodontal disease, tooth decay and cavities
- Comfortable biting, chewing, smiling and speaking
- Positive psychosocial well-being
- Visiting the dentist regularly as part of a strong oral routine
The Choices That Damage Oral Health
The choices you make and perform today will contribute either to a strong smile or a degrading smile. Below outlines some of the common lifestyle choices that many people make that damage oral health significantly.
- Consuming Sugary Food And Drink – Sugary food and drink is a popular lifestyle choice adopted by many, but consuming sugar is one of the key triggers of tooth decay. Sugar and harmful bacteria combine to form acid to break down your enamel. Sugar can be found in a lot of food and drink and avoiding it can be difficult. It is recommended that you contribute to strong oral health by consuming foods that are high in protein, phosphate and calcium such as vegetables, fruit, potato, dairy and fish.
- Consuming Hot Drinks – Hot drinks such as tea and coffee is consumed by many to kick start their day. It is easy enough to consume a cup of coffee without thinking about the problems it can cause to your oral health, but hot drinks linked to discolouration, where stubborn stains form on your teeth, degrading your smile.
- Not Keeping Your Mouth Clean – Forgetting to swirl your mouth with lukewarm water shortly after eating and snacking can lead to plaque build-up and tooth decay. The food debris is what plaque feeds off and plaque and bacteria in the mouth is a danger sign to your teeth.
- General Neglect Of Oral Hygiene – The above three points contribute to weak oral hygiene alongside not brushing and flossing your teeth daily, showing signs of stress, which link to teeth grinding, and generally neglecting your teeth and gums.
- Not Visiting The Dentist –Â The oral health knowledge you can obtain from visiting a dentist can be essential for your oral health. Not visiting the dentist for a check-up appointment also means you’re missing out on scale and polish treatments and regular oral advice on how to keep your teeth and gums clean.
Start making the right lifestyle choices now to maintain a strong and healthy smile. Visiting the dentist for a check-up appointment would be a great first choice, so the dentist can determine the state of your oral health, and recommend lifestyle choices you can adopt to keep your teeth and gums clean.
Lifestyle choices impact oral health strongly and the time has come for you to visit the dentist to restore your smile. Click here to book a check-up appointment with us at Sutherland Dental today!
