Most people realise the importance of brushing their teeth but often don’t understand the impact poor oral health can have on general health.
There are many links between oral health and systemic diseases. Taking care of your oral hygiene impacts more than just your teeth. It can influence your overall well-being.
Periodontitis (known commonly as gum disease) is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects the supporting structures of the teeth. It affects your gums, the bone around the teeth and the connective tissues. Left untreated, the chronic state of infection and inflammation is not good for you and can trigger an inflammatory and immune response throughout the body. It potentially can contribute to the development or worsening of systemic diseases. I like to explain to my patients that if their forearm was chronically sore and bleeding, red and inflamed, they would want to do something about it and would realise that in the long term it should not be left untreated as it would impact their overall health. Your gums have a similar surface area, so you can well imagine the long-term effect of chronic inflammation of your gums on your overall health. Reducing inflammation is vitally important and good daily cleaning between your teeth plays a huge role as well as other risk factors for the disease.
Cardiovascular Health: There is a correlation between periodontitis and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease and stroke. The inflammation caused by gum disease may contribute to the formation of arterial plaques and narrowing of blood vessels.
Diabetes: Individuals with diabetes are more susceptible to infections, including periodontitis. The presence of gum disease can also make it more challenging to control blood sugar levels particularly so with type II diabetics. The relationship between diabetes and periodontitis is bidirectional, with each condition having the potential to affect the other. The links between type II diabetes and periodontitis are clear and have been undisputed for some time now, yet patients with type II diabetes are not always well informed of this connection. If you are newly diagnosed as a type II diabetic, it is well worth a trip to your dentist, hygienist or dental therapist to have your gum health checked out. Conversely, if you are having problems with gum disease, it is also worth double checking your diabetic status.
Connections have also been made with periodontitis and Alzheimer’s disease as well as gum disease and pregnancy complications. More research is needed around these conditions.
The link between periodontitis and systemic disease demonstrates the importance of looking after your oral health. Regular dental examinations and good oral hygiene regimes are vital to your overall well-being.
Having a healthy mouth is an integral part of your body’s health. We need to prioritise our oral hygiene and form good habits, in the same way that we need to prioritise a healthy diet and exercise regime. By doing this we have the potential to further reduce our risk of some systemic diseases and live a healthier lifestyle.
If you are due (or overdue!) an oral health examination, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the practice for a check-up with one of our dentists or dental therapists. We are here to help.
Appointment Information During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
We firmly believe that both routine and urgent dentistry is essential for good health and that by following our strict protocols, that we can treat you safely. If you cannot attend your appointment or feel that you would rather postpone, then please do phone and let us know that you won’t be attending so that the appointment can be offered to someone else who may be in need.
Where possible, please do not attend the practice without an appointment. If you have any queries then please do not hesitate to call us on 0115 9283253 and we will do our utmost to help you.
Please do not attend the practice with any symptoms of COVID-19 or if you should be self-isolating because you have been in contact with someone who has COVID-19. For more information please see www.gov.uk.
We also politely ask that if you have a case of COVID in your household then to let us know before you attend the practice so that we can discuss your individual treatment needs.
Our waiting room is open, so no waiting outside in the cold. Chairs are still distanced and are all cleaned after someone has used them! Unfortunately at this time, our water machine and fabulous magazine selection are still unavailable!
We look forward to seeing you all soon. In the meantime, please look after yourselves and stay healthy.
For more information visit our Practice Information to see the latest coronavirus awareness policies.
Healthy drinks should be default options on kids’ menus, foundation claims
BY SEB EVANS ON 2 OCTOBER 2018
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The Oral Health Foundation is calling on restaurants to offer healthy drinks as the default option on children’s menus.
California recently passed a law meaning milk and water will be the default drink sold with kids’ meals in restaurants.
The foundation believes a similar initiative rolled out in the UK could help fight the effects of sugary drinks on children’s oral health.
‘We know that some children are consuming several sugary and fizzy drinks every day,’ Dr Nigel Carter OBE, chief executive of the Oral Health Foundation, says.
‘This is not only contributing to oral diseases, but is at the forefront of general health issues like obesity and diabetes.
‘Around one in four (24.7%) five-year-olds in the UK have tooth decay.
‘The amount of sugar young children are consuming, along with how often, is the root cause of the problem.
‘Any initiative to make water and milk default options for children’s meals must be driven by the restaurant industry.
‘If they fail to show a commitment, then we would be pushing for its introduction by a change in the law.’
Sugar-filled cereals
Research also shows that kid’s cereals could provide at least 50% of a child’s daily sugar allowance in one 30g bowl.
Figures from Sinks-taps.com found none of the cereals tested were below 25% of a child’s recommended daily allowance (RDA).
Of the cereals tested, Frosties came out top of the sugar pile, containing 71% of a child’s RDA per bowl.
‘This investigation into the sugar in children’s cereals has been truly worrying,’ Richard Broadbent, managing director of Sinks-taps.com, said.
‘We hope this information will help parents make more informed decisions on breakfast foods for their kids.
‘It is especially concerning how, even with the recommended serving size, there is a large percentage of a child’s daily allowance of sugar used up before school.’
Article credit: https://www.dentistry.co.uk/2018/10/02/healthy-drinks-default-options-kids-menus-foundation-claims/
Image credit: https://www.thefoodrush.com/articles/health-hydration-and-happiness-can-kids-drinks-have-it-all/
Dentists have accused the government of having a “short-sighted” approach to tooth decay in England after hospital operations to remove children’s teeth increased to nearly 43,000.
There were 42,911 operations in 2016-17 – up from 40,800 the previous year and 36,833 in 2012-13, NHS figures show.
The British Dental Association said England had a “second-class” dental service compared to Wales and Scotland.
The government said it was “determined” to reduce the number of extractions.
Doctors said many of the tooth extractions would be caused by the food and drink children consume and were therefore “completely preventable”.
Dental surgeon Claire Stevens, who works in a hospital in north-west England, said most of her patients were aged five to nine, but it was not uncommon to remove all 20 baby teeth from a two-year-old because of decay.
She said she has also extracted a 14-year-old’s permanent teeth due to fizzy drinks. They then needed false teeth.
‘Startling’ figures
An analysis of NHS figures by the Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, found the equivalent of 170 hospital tooth extractions a day were being carried out on under-18s.
These are done in hospital under general anaesthetic, rather than at a dental practice.
The operations would have cost the NHS about £36m last year and £165m since 2012, the LGA found.
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Mick Armstrong, chairman of the BDA, said: “These statistics are a badge of dishonour for health ministers, who have failed to confront a wholly preventable disease.
“Tooth decay is the number one reason for child hospital admissions, but communities across England have been left hamstrung without resources or leadership.”
The BDA said England was receiving a “second-class service” because, unlike Wales and Scotland, it has no dedicated national child oral health programme.
It said the government’s centrepiece policy Starting Well – aimed at improving oral health outcomes for “high-risk” children – had received no new funding and was operating in parts of just 13 local authorities in England.
“The BDA has insisted that national authorities must provide resources to enable all children in England to benefit,” it said.
‘Cutting back’
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said the figures were “startling” and “should act as a wake-up call to policy makers and act as the catalyst for change”.
The LGA said the data demonstrated the “urgent need to introduce measures to curb our sugar addiction which is causing children’s teeth to rot”.
The Royal College of Surgeons said the statistics were “alarming” and called for supervised tooth brushing sessions in all nursery schools across England.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said it was “determined to reduce the number of children having teeth extracted because of tooth decay” and pointed to its sugar tax, which comes into effect in April on soft drinks with the most added sugar.
“Our world-class NHS dentists are also playing a vital role to improve dental hygiene – in the last year 6.8 million children were seen by a dentist, representing 58.5% of the child population,” she said.
The spokesman added that the Starting Well programme was introduced last year to improve the oral health of children most at risk in 13 high priority areas and NHS England was planning to expand the programme to other areas.
Dr Sandra White, director of dental public health at Public Health England, said parents could reduce tooth decay through cutting back on their children’s sugary food and drink and encouraging them to brush their teeth with fluoride toothpaste twice a day, as well as regular trips to the dentist.
Government initiatives in Scotland and Wales are said to be behind their falling rates of tooth decay in young children.
In Scotland, the Childsmile programme is claimed to have cut £5m off treatment costs and the Designed to Smile programme in Wales has helped reduce decay among five-year-olds in deprived areas.
A debate on children’s dental examinations and treatment is due to take place in the House of Lords on 18 January.
Text credit: BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42662425
Image Credit: Dentistry http://www.dentistry.co.uk/2016/02/29/rising-number-of-childrens-teeth-extractions-in-england/