How Your Dental Health Affects Your General Health

Your immune system defends your body from viruses and bacteria. According to a family dentistry expert in Plantation, FL, it also helps to prevent diseases from happening in the first place. Additionally, if you don’t take good care of your mouth, your body's defenses against common infections may be weakened. Why? If you give it some thought, your immune system can only produce so many white blood cells and antibodies at once. In other words, if it's working hard to fight off illnesses and destroy bacteria in your mouth, it won't be able to do the same elsewhere in your body.

Dental Health and Your Immune System

Bacteria Takeover

Dental bacteria will take over your mouth if you don't brush and floss properly, as well as take care of your oral health. These bacteria will attack your gums, eventually leading to gum disease. Likewise, they release acid, which can wear down your teeth and result in severe cavities or even teeth infections. Your body won't be able to send as many white blood cells to other regions of your body if it has to send most of it to your mouth to treat these oral health problems. As a result, it will impede the strength of your immune system as a whole.

Mouth Infection Can Harm Your General Health

Inflammatory illnesses like gingivitis and periodontal disease are brought on by an excess of germs in the mouth. The immune system intervenes to combat the germs causing inflammation. You’ll know this happens when your gums turn red and irritated. These microorganisms actively try to undermine the immune system's capacity to combat infection. Immune system deterioration happens during episodes of the flu, mononucleosis, measles, and head colds. It can also be weakened by smoking, drinking alcohol, and eating poorly. Asthma, eczema, allergic rhinitis, HIV/AIDS, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, heart disease, and inflammatory bowel disease are immune system-related illnesses. Other factors, such as cancer therapies, organ transplants, and some drugs, slow down your immune system. Your immune system can focus on the rest of the body when your mouth is healthy and free of bacteria. It can focus on acute infections in your mouth while allowing others to spread across the body, like an army that moves on one front while some attack elsewhere.

Gum Disease Can Compromise Your Immune System

Oral bacteria can cause gum disease. Food particles that collect in and around the margins of your gums and between your teeth nourish and increase the bacteria in those areas. Gingivitis, the early stage of periodontal disease, can be treated effectively by brushing, flossing, and seeing a dentist or dental hygienist for a professional cleaning to remove the bacterial film. You most likely have gingivitis if your gums bleed or eat foods that are a bit sharp when you clean them. Gum inflammation, which results in redness and swelling, causes bleeding. Periodontitis, a more severe form of gum disease, may only be handled by a dentist or dental hygienist. In periodontitis, the bacteria's inflammatory effects target the gums and the bone that supports the teeth.

Consult an Expert in Family Dentistry in Plantation, FL

Your immune system's role is to combat and eradicate microorganisms that enter your body. It activates in response to inflammation brought on by the bacteria. Moreover, mild infections in healthy individuals go unnoticed because the immune system successfully eliminates harmful germs. However, when a person is unwell, their immune system cannot keep up, and illnesses start to spread. Severe gum infections from periodontal disease are a condition that overwhelms the immune system and necessitates outside assistance from oral health professionals to treat the infection and inflammation. Contact our experts today, so you’ll know if your dental condition will compromise your immune system.