Diabetes and What it Means for Tooth Care
Taking care of your teeth and mouth is an incredibly important undertaking. Far too many individuals neglect some aspect of their oral care, and their overall health can suffer as a result.
Unfortunately, this can be compounded if an individual in question also has diabetes. Diabetes is a very serious disease which has several commonly-known effects. One of the lesser-known effects, though, is that diabetes increases one’s risk of mouth infections. The most common infection is gum (periodontal) disease, which manifests itself as painful chewing due to the gums and bones being damaged.
In addition, it is possible that serious periodontal disease could cause difficulties in controlling blood sugar, dry mouth, thrush (which is a disease causing painful white patches inside the mouth), and could even result in loss of teeth.
Fortunately, it is not overly difficult to maintain proper mouth health if you have diabetes, although it may take slightly more monitoring.
The main things that you need to do are:
- Always call your dentist if you ever have any issues or concerns
- Stop smoking immediately. Smoking has a noticeably adverse effect on gum disease
- Brush your teeth at least twice a day, and floss at least once
- Monitor blood sugar very closely. High blood sugar can cause mouth problems, and vice versa
- Take time out to thoroughly (and regularly) scan your mouth for any potential issues. As with anything in life, the sooner you can catch a problem, the better it will be
If you follow those steps, as well as any extra steps outlined by your doctor or dentist, you should have no problem maintaining a healthy mouth.
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on Dec 8th, 2013
11:02 am
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