Wellness Starts with Your Mouth: The Importance of Proper Dental Care

As you know, we’re all about health, wellness, and living a balanced life, that’s why it’s time we highlighted one of the most overlooked parts of the body. Every dentist will tell you that dental care and oral health are essential to overall well-being and maintaining a good quality of life, so why do so many of us turn a blind eye to it?

In our experience, it often comes down to a communication gap between dentists and patients. Dentists know what needs to be done, patients quickly fall back into old habits after an appointment, and oral health continues to decline. With this in mind, we’ve created a handy little guide for dentists and patients to help bridge the gap.

Why does wellness start with your mouth?

The mouth is clearly the gateway to the rest of the body because in many ways we are literally what we eat. If you eat high-sugar, high-saturated-fat processed foods, your body will suffer as a result. However, if you opt for wholefoods and natural cuts of meat, your body will flourish as a consequence.

Dentists who highlight the importance of oral health from a nutritional point of view will be introducing their patients to a whole new way of thinking. For example, if you have a patient who experiences chronically sensitive teeth and then eats comfort foods as a way to cope, they are fuelling their body with food that will impact their overall health and well-being.

Poor oral health leads to disease

Gum disease is the obvious example here, but things go much further than that when you assess things from a holistic perspective. Inflamed gums trigger different areas of the immune system throughout the body and upset the delicate natural balance that needs to be struck for optimal health to be achieved.

A consistent level of background inflammation in many of the body’s key systems will result in a wide array of different chronic conditions. The key is to remember that everything within the body is interconnected and that what may present as minor gum disease has a series of knock-on effects throughout the body.

Inconsistent dental care impacts mental health

Tooth decay, plaque, and sensitive teeth will naturally have an impact on mental health. This is something that many dentists would be well-advised to highlight to their patients, especially at a time when we are becoming so much more open about our mental health compared to previous generations.

Constantly feeling in pain will take a toll on how you feel and impact your ability to perform any number of daily tasks. If substandard or inconsistent dental care results in aesthetic issues, patients will find that their self-confidence and self-esteem are negatively affected. This may result in feelings of withdrawal, social isolation, and even loneliness in extreme cases.

We can all agree that none of the above are conducive to a healthy and happy way of life, so it’s about time we focused on how to bridge the gap between patients and dentists. Because patients are always being told what to do by dentists, and the advice may not be hitting home, we are addressing this next section primarily at the dentists themselves.

What dentists need to tell patients

Consider how you can share these key pieces of advice with your patients this week and you will be able to significantly improve patient outcomes:
Recommend a particular brand of fluoride toothpaste and have it available to buy at reception for convenience
Highlight how flossing after meals does something that brushing alone cannot manage and keep a suitable type of floss in stock

Introduce your patients to interdental brushes — both as tools in your appointments and for home use — and have them on sale in reception

Let every patient know that regular check-ups are the best way to take a proactive approach to oral health
Providing educational resources on the benefits of limiting sugary foods and drinks and stopping smoking will also help you frame your advice in a holistic way.

If you are a dental professional and you have found that these new insights and ways of explaining common issues have helped, by all means, share them with your next wave of patients. And if you are a patient and have found our insights helpful, now is the time to start putting them into practice without delay.