The tongue has multiple functions. It helps you taste, chew, and swallow food. Your tongue even assists with speech. But did you know that your tongue can indicate dental issues? Specifically, the coating on your tongue. Read more to learn what different amounts of coating on your tongue could mean for your oral health.
Too Much
When was the last time you looked at your tongue? The appearance of your tongue can tell you a lot about your oral health. For instance, the appearance of a white film can be an indication of bad breath. When food particles, bacteria, and debris get trapped in the papillae (the tiny dots on the surface of the tongue), it causes a white coating and an unpleasant smell. Good oral hygiene is the best way to avoid and treat this. Take time to gently clean your tongue with a tongue scraper after brushing your teeth.
Thick white coating or patches of white on the tongue may be a sign of oral thrush, an infection caused by an overgrowth of the candida fungus. Leukoplakia is another condition marked by a white-coated tongue, which can be an early indicator of oral cancer. Be sure to speak with your dentist or medical professional if white spots on your mouth do not resolve on their own within two weeks. They can determine the cause of your white tongue and recommend the best treatment option.
Too Little
Xerostomia, or dry mouth, is a condition where the salivary glands in the mouth don't produce enough saliva to keep it moist. A dry tongue with a grooved texture and a change of taste are common symptoms of dry mouth. Home remedies and lifestyle changes can offer some relief. Stay hydrated by drinking water throughout the day, and chew sugar-free gum to stimulate saliva production. You could even add a humidifier to a room in your house to increase moisture. If your condition is severe, your dentist may prescribe mouthrinse or other medication to alleviate dryness.
Just Right
Saliva in the mouth and on the tongue helps you taste and chew food.
Your tongue should have a light coating of saliva that gives it a natural sheen. Here are some care tips to help you keep this part of your mouth healthy:
Drink water.
Brush your teeth and clean between the teeth with an interdental cleaning device.
Clean your tongue with a tongue scraper.
Include a mouthrinse in your oral hygiene routine.
Avoid consuming spicy, acidic, or hot food and beverages as they can irritate the tongue.
Your tongue might not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about your oral health. But it's something you should keep an eye on. We recommend examining your tongue when you brush your teeth, which is a good way to determine any issues. Maintaining good oral hygiene and regular dental checkups are essential for staying on top of any tongue issues.
Most of us brush our teeth at least twice a day and, when we're not too tired, floss and use a mouthwash to rinse. We visit a dentist every two years or so and believe this is a pretty good effort when it comes to oral health.
But up to 40% of adults worldwide suffer some level of gum disease, and there are very serious illnesses now associated with gum disease including heart disease, stroke, uncontrolled diabetes, preterm births and respiratory disease.
What is gum disease
When plaque and tartar are not properly removed from between our teeth, gums become swollen and bleed, a condition referred to as gingivitis. If left untreated, periodontitis can develop. Gums pull away from the teeth and infected pockets appear below the gum line. The bones, gums, and connective tissue that support the teeth are destroyed without proper treatment and tooth loss may occur. The bacteria formed by gum disease can also enter the bloodstream and escalate our risk of other serious ailments like heart disease.
"Gum disease is not painful and most people don't know there is a problem until it is too late," says periodontist Dr Howard Gluckman. "The more aggressive type of gum disease is usually found in younger people; and the more chronic in older people, but age is not a risk factor on its own.
There are a whole host of factors including genetic susceptibility, specific bacteria present in the gums, the environment, smoking, diabetes and others," Gluckman says. There have also been strong scientific links between stress, obesity and gum disease.
So how do I know I have it?
There are a number of signs to look out for, says Gluckman:
Bleeding gums
It's a major indicator, though this can be masked in smokers as gum inflammation is reduced.
Loose teeth
The bone has been destroyed and the teeth are able to move in their sockets. Teeth can be mobile without the presence of gum disease but is not that prevalent.
Gum recession
When the necks of the roots are exposed due to the loss of bone below. This can also be due to aggressive tooth brushing and orthodontic treatment.
Bad breath
The severity of bad breath varies from person to person, but sufferers are often not aware of it.
Sometimes the only way to detect periodontal disease is through a periodontal evaluation. This is especially important if you:
Have symptoms of periodontal disease.
Have heart disease, diabetes, respiratory disease or osteoporosis.
Are thinking of becoming pregnant.
Have a family member with periodontal disease.
Have a sore or irritation in your mouth that does not get better within two weeks.
What can I do?
Brush your teeth regularly and floss, floss, floss. "Flossing is very important but is not very popular because it is difficult and requires fairly good manual dexterity," says Gluckman. Gum disease and decay starts most often in between the teeth that are rarely cleaned. You may find it easier to use small brushes to get between those difficult to reach teeth.
"Six-monthly visits to the dentist are essential to reduce the risk of gum disease and tooth decay. Patients who have already been diagnosed and treated for gum disease need to see a properly trained hygienist every three months to ensure the disease does not return," Gluckman says.
Taking care of your oral health is a full-time job. But no matter how well you care for your teeth during the day, bad night-time habits could ruin all your hard work. Once you drift off to sleep, you have no control over what happens inside your mouth.To ensure your teeth and gums don't suffer overnight, put a stop to the following night-time habits.
1. Not de-stressing after a long day
After a long day at work, it's nice to get home and unwind before retreating for a fitful rest at bedtime. But if you often return home stressed and have little opportunity to de-stress, you could suffer from night-time bruxism.According to research, anxiety and stress can cause a person to grind their teeth at night. Grinding your teeth at night is not the same as grinding your teeth during the day. During the day, you can control the pressure you exert when you grit or grind. But at night, you have no control over the pressure your jaw exerts, and thus you could do some serious damage to your teeth and gums.When you get home after a stressful day, take the time to unwind before you go to bed at night. Meditation, long hot baths and gentle exercise can help.
2. Skipping your nightly brushing session
During the day, millions of bacteria cling to and breed on your teeth. These bacterial colonies create sticky films on your teeth that make it easy for them to live on the smooth enamel surface. Brushing at night removes these colonies from your teeth. But more importantly, brushing removes the food particles that feed oral bacteria.If you don't brush at night, the food particles clinging to the tissues in your mouth will remain to feed and sustain the bacterial organisms living on your teeth. But these organisms produce acid that gradually eats away at tooth enamel. And without saliva or water to wash them away, as long as you sleep, these bacterial organisms will remain on your teeth.
3. Sleeping with your mouth open
Try not to go to sleep at night with congested nasal passages. If you do, you'll breathe through your mouth instead of your nose. Naturally, if you breathe through your mouth all night, your mouth will dry out. The most harmful bacteria, like streptococcus mutans, thrive in this dry environment, especially if food is available.Saliva kills bacteria, which is why if you sleep with a dry mouth, your teeth will be at the mercy of oral bacteria.
4. Snacking before bedtime
If you don't eat enough food during the day, the chances are good that you might snack at night. Night-time snacking is damaging to your teeth, especially if you also fail to brush your teeth because you are sleepy. The bacteria in your mouth will enjoy bedtime snacks just as much as you do. The problem is that you then wake up with a mouthful of bacteria and the acid they produce.
5. Going to bed dehydrated
If you often go to bed dehydrated, you probably don't sleep very well, at least according to Sleepfoundation.org. Saliva regulates the bacteria in your mouth, keeping them to a minimum by killing them and washing them into your stomach. But if you go to bed dehydrated, you won't enough saliva to keep bacteria at bay while you sleep.Have bad night-time habits jeopardized your oral health? Then call Runcorn Dental today. Come in for a dental examination and we'll identify and treat any existing oral health problems you might have. We'll also advise you on how you can keep your teeth and gums in tip-top condition.
Dr. Robert Nelson celebrated 60 years of practicing dentistry on June 24, with friends, family, and colleagues there to celebrate the impressive milestone.
Nelson’s office on Offnere Street in Portsmouth Ohio is so much more than just a dental office to those who work within its walls. Nelson and his staff know that the services they’ve provided the community for decades can have positively life-changing results for many who walk through the doors.
Nelson’s daughter and employee, Trish Scarberry, is proud of the legacy of smiles that her family and the staff at Nelson’s office have brought to our community.
“The first thing everybody looks at when they see someone is their smile. It’s very welcoming, it’s like a front porch. You’re welcomed when you see a beautiful front porch,” she said.
“That is something that [Nelson] has always strived for: to help people so that they have a welcoming smile, so that they can be comfortable and loved,” Scarberry added.
Sitting in his office awaiting a day of celebration, Nelson tells me that the last sixty years have been a gift.
“It’s like a flash in the dark, like a strike of lightning. It just went so fast. I think of all the fine things I’ve been told by people, ‘you’ve eliminated so much pain, you’ve made people smile,’ or ‘you gave them smiles.’ This is what God gave me the ability to do, so I try to use that ability,” Nelson said.
Having practiced dentistry since 1962, Nelson has seen astounding changes to his field, and has worked hard to keep up with them—in some cases, even being ahead of the curve with his own research.
Nelson said that early in his career, when he noticed a connection between gum disease and other health problems in his more mature patients, some dismissed his observations.
“I was told I was a boat-rocker,” Nelson said with a chuckle. “I said, ‘you do it the way you want, but I’m going to do it the way I think is best.”
Trusting his research and instincts, Nelson now says that the connection between periodontal disease and other issues such as cardiac problems, stroke, widespread infection, and even dementia is now widely studied and accepted.
“The American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, the American Dental Association [all] say that the mouth is probably where most of the body’s problems start: with bleeding gums,” Nelson explained. “When the blood gets out, the bacteria get in. They go throughout the body but they can settle in the valves of the heart—and [cause] strokes, all kinds of other problems.”
A member of 33 various dental organizations over the years, Nelson has positively impacted not only patients, but colleagues as well, with some simply referring to him as “Uncle Bob.” In a farewell speech to the House of Delegates at the Ohio Dental Association from 1991, fellow dentist Dr. Irving Kaplan, DDS had this to say about Nelson:
“I’ll miss going to the ADA Annual Session and being with Bob Nelson. Bob checks in with The Ten Commandments in one hand and a ten-dollar bill in the other. And in five days, he doesn’t break either one. Bob has a combination of paranoia and apathy—he believes I’m out to get him, but he doesn’t particularly care.”
Nelson said that his colleagues later told him that they’d never heard Kaplan personally discuss anyone else the way he did Nelson.
As Nelson’s staff, family, and friends began to fill his office, Ohio State Representative Brian Baldridge presented him with a certificate of recognition from the General Assembly of the Ohio House of Representatives commemorating his sixty years of service.
“You have truly impacted the lives and dental health of your fellow Ohioans in a positive way,” the certificate read. “We thank you for your commitment to your community, and we look forward to your continued hard work and service to the great people of Scioto County.”
Nelson is grateful for his service to the area and remains humble as he remembers those sixty years that flew by.
“All the changes in dentistry—how it’s improved the lives, and benefits, and blessings and the healings of patients. My goal is to keep everybody’s help up the maximum,” Nelson said.
“I just thank God that I can do this. Taking care of patients, trying to get them out of pain, and protecting their health: it all starts in the mouth.”
(06/26/2022) by Kasie McCreary (Portsmouth Daily Times)
Cavity prevention is easy when you know how to properly take charge of your oral health. Flossing, brushing, and visiting your dentist regularly is the best way to keep your teeth healthy and bright. However, there are several other habits we fall into in our daily lives that can negatively affect our oral health and sabotage the impact of our oral care efforts.
Aside from eating too much sugar between meals, some bad habits can damage your oral health that aren’t so obvious. You may actually be doing something every day that puts your teeth at risk of decay or enamel damage without even knowing. Let’s take a look at some of the common habits that could be having an adverse effect on your oral health.
AGGRESSIVE BRUSHING OF THE TEETH AND GUMS
Brushing your teeth regularly is a great way to take care of your oral health. But, do you know it is possible to overdo it? Brushing too hard can actually end up damaging your teeth and gums.
In fact, aggressive brushing may cause a range of oral problems including tooth sensitivity, sore and irritated gums, and enamel abrasion. As such, it is best to choose a toothbrush hardness that’s appropriate for your teeth and gums (most dentists don’t recommend using anything other than soft)—you should avoid being heavy-handed in brushing your teeth as well.
SMOKING CIGARETTES AND CHEWING TOBACCO
Smoking cigarettes and chewing tobacco often cause oral health problems and can stain and damage your teeth. As a matter of fact, tobacco increases your risk of developing tooth decay, gum disease, and greatly increases your risk of oral cancer. Aside from that, here are some of the common oral problems that affect people who smoke:
Smoker’s keratosis or whitening of the soft tissue in the mouth
Chronic dry mouth
Tooth loss
Poor healing after tooth extraction
Poor healing after mouth and gum surgery
Decreased sense of taste
Halitosis or a bad taste in the mouth and bad breath
NAIL BITING
Biting your nails can seriously affect your gums and teeth. This is a habit that commonly starts during childhood as a natural progression from thumb sucking. When biting your nails, you’re likely putting pressure on your teeth, causing them to shift and leave gaps in your smile.
Furthermore, it also weakens the roots of your teeth, causing potential issues with your jaw bone. Unfortunately, this can be a difficult habit to break. Thus, if you don’t want to lose your teeth from nail-biting, you should have a dental checkup and find effective strategies to help you stop biting your nails.
CHEWING ICE CUBES
Another bad habit that may harm your oral health is chewing ice cubes. Biting an ice cube can break, crack, or chip your teeth. Any of these problems may require a filling or dental crown to address the damage.
Thus, if you want to enjoy the cooling effect of ice in your mount, especially during the hot season, it’s better to suck the ice, rather than to chew or bite it. Or, you may also drink cold beverages through a straw or take them without ice to help curb this habit.
USING TEETH AS TOOLS
People who use their teeth as a tool have a high risk of developing oral problems. At their own peril, people rely on their teeth to do several odd jobs: from uncapping a bottle of nail polish to tearing open a bag of chips, straightening a bent spoon, ripping a price tag off the newly bought clothes, or even popping off a bottle cap.
While these activities may seem harmless, they can be hard on your teeth, causing the edge of a weakened tooth to chip off. If you don’t want to damage your oral health because of this bad habit, don’t use your teeth as a third hand or a pair of scissors.
OVERDOING IT WITH ACIDIC FOODS
Acidic foods can cause sensitivity, tooth decay, and discoloration of teeth. That is why it’s important to consume them in moderation. Here are some of the highly acidic foods and drinks that you consume in moderation to prevent increased risk of oral problems:
Citrus fruits such as limes, lemons, tangerines, grapefruits, and oranges
Grapes, apples, peaches, pineapples, blueberries, and pomegranates
Sodas and fruit juices
Tomatoes and tomato juice
Jams
Jellies
Vinegar
The acids of these foods and drinks may cause enamel erosion, which can damage your teeth more intensively as it progresses. This erosion can build a rough texture on your teeth’s surface, making them appear darker and causing sensitivity of the tooth’s exposed deeper layers while compromising the integrity of your tooth’s outer structure.
When you picture a hospital radiologist, you might think of a specialist who sits in a dark room and spends hours poring over X-rays to make diagnoses. Contrast that with your dentist, who in addition to interpreting X-rays must also perform surgery, manage staff, communicate with patients, and run their business. When dentists analyze X-rays, they do so in bright rooms and on computers that aren’t specialized for radiology, often with the patient sitting right next to them.
Is it any wonder, then, that dentists given the same X-ray might propose different treatments?
“Dentists are doing a great job given all the things they have to deal with,” says Wardah Inam SM ’13, PhD ’16.
Inam is the co-founder of Overjet, a company using artificial intelligence to analyze and annotate X-rays for dentists and insurance providers. Overjet seeks to take the subjectivity out of X-ray interpretations to improve patient care.
“It’s about moving toward more precision medicine, where we have the right treatments at the right time,” says Inam, who co-founded the company with Alexander Jelicich ’13. “That’s where technology can help. Once we quantify the disease, we can make it very easy to recommend the right treatment.”
Overjet has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration to detect and outline cavities and to quantify bone levels to aid in the diagnosis of periodontal disease, a common but preventable gum infection that causes the jawbone and other tissues supporting the teeth to deteriorate.
In addition to helping dentists detect and treat diseases, Overjet’s software is also designed to help dentists show patients the problems they’re seeing and explain why they’re recommending certain treatments.
The company has already analyzed tens of millions of X-rays, is used by dental practices nationwide, and is currently working with insurance companies that represent more than 75 million patients in the U.S. Inam is hoping the data Overjet is analyzing can be used to further streamline operations while improving care for patients.
“Our mission at Overjet is to improve oral health by creating a future that is clinically precise, efficient, and patient-centric,” says Inam.
Good oral health is essential if you want to enjoy all the benefits of healthy teeth and gums and protect your overall health as the two are closely linked. If you have poor oral hygiene, your risk of developing gum disease, tooth decay, and other mouth infections increases substantially. In comparison, following a good preventive oral care routine will save you time and money and potentially a great deal of heartache and pain.
Why Is Oral Hygiene Important?
Oral hygiene is necessary to remove dental plaque mechanically, a sticky biofilm containing harmful bacteria that builds up over your teeth surfaces and between teeth each day. The oral bacteria in dental plaque can cause caries (tooth decay) and periodontal disease (gum disease). When you brush and floss your teeth thoroughly, it removes dental plaque from your tooth surfaces, helping you maintain healthy teeth and gums more easily. Because the plaque is continually forming, it must be removed regularly. Even after you clean your teeth thoroughly, dental plaque begins forming again within minutes.
If it has been a while since you last cleaned your teeth, you can even see and feel plaque as a soft whitish coloured deposit. While still soft, plaque is easily removed from teeth, but it hardens into calculus within just a few days. At this stage, this mineralised form of plaque can no longer be removed by a toothbrush and other interdental cleaning aids. Instead, it must be scaled or scraped away during your professional dental cleaning. Even if you clean your teeth thoroughly, some plaque will likely remain on your teeth, and this is why regular professional teeth cleaning is so important.
Tips for Maintaining Good Oral Health
Luckily, you can upgrade your oral hygiene routine relatively easily. A good oral health maintenance plan will only take a few minutes each day, and the oral health benefits are considerable. This can be especially difficult if you’re trying to get kids to maintain good oral hygiene. Here are some easy tips for oral health:
Brush Your Teeth Properly
The proper brushing technique is essential to remove the maximum amount of dental plaque. You need to think about what you are doing and brush your teeth methodically, cleaning each tooth surface using gentle circular motions. Concentrate on cleaning one section of your mouth before you move on to the next. If you are unsure about your brushing technique, ask your dentist.
Don’t Forget to Clean Your Tongue
Plaque can build up over your tongue, so don’t forget to clean it each time you brush your teeth. You can gently brush your tongue using your toothbrush or a tongue scraper that will only cost you a few dollars.
Always Brush Your Teeth before Bedtime
You need to brush your teeth at least twice a day, but it’s crucial to make sure you brush your teeth just before you go to sleep. Brushing your teeth before bedtime helps eliminate the plaque built up over the day and removes loose food particles, so you go to sleep with a cleaner mouth. This is important because your mouth is drier overnight as you produce less saliva. The drier conditions allow any remaining plaque bacteria to thrive.
Use Fluoridated Toothpaste
Fluoride protects your teeth by helping to harden your tooth enamel and fights the bacteria that cause disease. After brushing, spit out excess paste but don’t rinse as this will leave a protective layer of fluoride ions covering your teeth for a little longer.
Think about Using Mouthwash
Mouthwash can be a useful add-on to an oral hygiene routine, especially if you pick a good brand that has antimicrobial properties or which contains fluoride. Ask your dentist for recommendations and advice on choosing a good brand that will help with oral health maintenance.
Which Toothbrush to Use? Manual or Electric?
An electric toothbrush can be easier to use than a manual toothbrush, but a manual toothbrush can be equally as effective if you have an excellent brushing technique. There are several advantages in choosing an electric toothbrush, as they have built-in timers ensuring you brush for the full two minutes and can indicate when you have been brushing for 20 or 30 seconds and when it is time to clean the next section of your mouth. In addition, an electric toothbrush can be very useful for anyone with dexterity problems or difficulty holding a conventional manual toothbrush.
Whichever toothbrush you choose, make sure the head is small enough so you can clean right to the back of your mouth and use a toothbrush with soft bristles, so it doesn’t damage your teeth and gums. Also, make sure you replace your toothbrush or toothbrush head every three months or sooner if it begins to look worn and splayed. A worn toothbrush will not remove plaque so effectively.
Is Flossing Necessary?
Flossing is necessary as the interdental areas between your teeth can quickly accumulate dental plaque. This area is a common site for tooth decay and is often where periodontal disease first begins.
Many people fail to floss regularly, only completing this essential task when they have something stuck between their teeth or just before a dentist check-up. However, the contact areas between your teeth account for one-third of all tooth surfaces and cannot be cleaned by your toothbrush. Therefore it’s essential to make sure you floss daily.
How to Floss
One common mistake is to use a short piece of dental floss when you need about 45 cm to clean each tooth using a new section. To floss more effectively, wind most of the floss around your middle finger, winding the other end around your other middle finger. Leave a small section of floss in between that is easily manipulated by your thumbs and index fingers. Gently slide the floss between the tooth, holding it in a c-shape around the tooth and moving it carefully up and down several times to remove the maximum amount of dental plaque. Then, wind the floss on so you use a new section for the next tooth. If you find it tricky to floss, ask us for help as we can show you some easy techniques to try or discuss other tools to use, such as interdental brushes or a water pik.
If your teeth feel weird, it’s probably time to see the dentist
We’ve all been there before. Have you ever moved your tongue around your teeth and feel the slimy build up on your teeth? Even with brushing, some of it just won’t come off. This is usually a good sign that you need a professional dental cleaning. We’ll explain why.
Plaque build up happens naturally and requires a dental exam
We use our mouths everyday. For eating and drinking, talking, chewing, breathing… you get the picture. Our mouths are usually grand central station for most people. It’s only a natural part of oral life, that plaque and food particles build up, even with daily brushing.
Even the most consistent practicers of oral hygiene can’t get to all of the hard to reach places in the mouth with brushing and flossing. That’s why a dental professional needs to perform routine dental cleanings with specialized tools to remove all of the harmful build up around your teeth and gums.
Occasional brushing can lead to tooth slime faster than frequent brushers
There are some who often forget to brush consistently. Teenagers and kids may come to mind, but busy adults often leave the house without brushing due to hectic schedules.
For those individuals, slippery teeth can happen quicker. It’s that grim that builds up and you can even feel it with your tongue. When this occurs, it’s a sure sign that you’re due for a dental cleaning. Delay will only make it worse and could lead to other dental issues that may require costly treatments.
Keep your oral hygiene in check
Our body gives us lots of signals, if we will pay attention. Whether it’s pain, irritation, or even slimy teeth, our body will let us know when it’s time to address a certain area.
It’s good to pay attention to these internal signals that can help us stay healthy and avoid more serious issues. Make it a habit to check your teeth and even better, schedule regular dental exams every six months. Then you won’t even have to deal with slimy teeth.
Prevent oral issues that can have negative effects on your health
It’s an interesting thought, but a true one. The mouth is the gateway to the rest of the body. Obviously food, water, and air enter the body through the oral passage way, but there are other reasons why it’s important to protect your mouth and teeth as it can affect your overall health. We’ll take a look at a few of them.
Oral trauma can affect your appetite and health
It’s no secret that a tooth ache can hinder your appetite. Whether it’s trying to eat on one side of your mouth or avoiding hot and spicy foods, oral pain can limit your appetite and lower your energy level. Sensitive teeth can also limit your food choices, and result in a poor appetite.
This can be a problem because it’s important to maintain a healthy appetite to keep your body nourished and energetic. This helps the body fight off any sickness or inflammation that may arise. Plus it helps you feel better too.
Oral pain can impact your mental state and overall well being
Pain and inflammation can affect your entire body, regardless of it’s origin. But oral pain can especially impact your overall health. Oral pain can affect your energy, your mental state, and your emotional health.
Oral pain that’s allowed to linger can do more than put you in a bad mood. It’s proven that low energy and a poor emotional state can contribute to other illnesses or depression. It’s better to deal with oral issues, so your body can better handle other conditions from a stronger state of mind.
Oral bleeding can impact your cardiovascular health
It’s often overlooked, but oral bleeding can be a dangerous condition. Since the body is connected by the cardiovascular system, oral bleeding can allow any particles, microbes, or bacteria in the mouth to invade the blood stream and move to other parts of the body including your heart.
It’s been shown that patients with continual oral bleeding are more likely to develop heart disease due to the spreading of plaque through the arteries. People with poor oral health are also susceptible to other infections spreading to the body from the mouth if bleeding is left unchecked. If you’ve had consistent bleeding in the mouth, it’s best to get treatment to stop the bleeding in order to prevent additional health risks.
Get immediate treatment for oral issues
With these negative effects and risks of oral issues in mind, it’s always best to take care of oral conditions with proper dental care. Dental professionals are able to identify the source causes of any negative symptoms and begin a treatment plan to get you on the path to oral health.
With proper dental care, you can maintain a healthy mouth that will help promote a healthy body and positive state of mind. Because when it comes to the way you feel, a trip to the dentist can be well worth your while.
Gingival fistula is an asymptomatic pathology, it is a lesion of the gingiva due to an oral cavity infection.
What causes the appearance of a gingival fistula
At its appearance the gingival fistula is a localized lesion of the gingiva, but if it is not treated with specific therapies it can extend to neighboring tissues and also affect the teeth, endangering the stability of the same.
The causes that determine the appearance of a gingival fistula are the same ones that, more generally, cause the onset of oral infections, namely:
neglected oral hygiene;
very low immune defenses;
alcohol or smoking abuse.
Neglected oral hygiene
At the base of all oral infections there is a high concentration of bacteria in the mouth. A condition often due to the presence of bacterial plaque and tartar.
When one begins to neglect oral hygiene, the health of the mouth begins to deteriorate precipitously. Bacterial plaque quickly becomes tartar and attacks teeth and gums causing infections and lesions, such as the gingival fistula.
Low immune defenses
Another condition that sees the organism particularly exposed to the proliferation of bacteria in the oral cavity is the lowering of the immune defenses. The gingival fistula, in these cases, is the consequence of a weakened body that undergoes the attack of bacteria.
Smoke and alcohol
Smoke and alcohol, on the other hand, significantly affect the saliva pH, bringing it to an acid value. An acid ph exposes the mouth to multiple risks, including that of the gingival fistula.
How to heal the gum fistula
Gingival fistula, if neglected, can lead to complications such as abscesses or dental fistulas. If in the first phase of its appearance does not present any symptoms, the aggravation of the pathology could result in acute pain in the area affected by the infection.
In the case of this specific pathology it is very difficult, indeed impossible, to make a self-diagnosis. Consulting with a proven dentist is the first step towards complete recovery.
The dentist will provide to drain the infected liquid present in the gingival lesion, in this way it will be possible to prevent the infection from spreading to the surrounding tissues and teeth.
However, since it is an infection it is necessary to associate an antibiotic therapy.
If the gum infection has already affected the tooth, the dentist will probably have to proceed with the devitalization of the tooth, to clean it of infection.
One of the most effective practices to prevent gingival fistula and oral infections in general, is to undergo a deep oral hygiene session twice a year.
This should be associated in any case with a healthy lifestyle and the care to monitor, with regular checkups, one’s oral health.
