Good health is not accidental. It’s the result of a thoughtful and prudent lifestyle, good hygiene, healthy diet and regular exercise.

Dental or oral hygiene and health practices are no exception. As anyone who has had an extraction or severe toothache will tell you, good dental care is more than just having a beautiful smile. It involves habits and lifestyles that not only maximise dental health but overall physical well being.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of five reasons why you should make the practice of proper oral hygiene a priority.

1.    Poor Oral Health Can Lead to Serious Illness

We care for our hair, our face, and our bodies in a myriad of ways and yet often neglect one of the most important and easy to maintain aspects of physical health.

Failure to manage your own oral hygiene can lead to debilitating sickness and illness. It can place pressure on the immune system and the ability of the body to deal with toxicity.

Gum disease has been known to negatively impact the respiratory and cardiovascular system leading to additional complications and health management problems.

2.    Look Better

It’s a well-known fact that a beautiful smile is enough to captivate an entire room and the key to a beautiful smile is perfect teeth.

During a visit to your dentist, you can request professional cleaning for your teeth. During this process, your dentist will remove excess plaque and tartar from your teeth’s surface.

Tartar results in a yellow tint on your teeth that gets under your gums and can harbour bacteria. Removing tartar and plaque not only improves the appearance of your teeth but can minimise the kinds of infections that would otherwise cause permanent damage and decay.

3.    It Can Result in Pain

Nobody enjoys the pain of tooth decay and that is exactly what can happen when good oral hygiene is not maintained.

More often than not, the culprit of oral pain is primarily infected gums. When gums become infected, they become irritable, painful and can sometimes result in tooth loss with the gums no longer strong enough to support the teeth.

4.    Child Bearing Issues

Proper dental health is essential for everyone, but it’s especially crucial for pregnant women for several reasons. Gum disease, in particular, not only impacts an expecting mother, but also the health of unborn children negatively.

Some of the risks may include low birth weight, premature birth, lowered fertility and the transmission of aggressive acid-loving bacteria.

5.    Mental and Emotional Discomfort

Sooner or later, improper oral practices will eventually result in pain, but the problem is not confined to physical pain.

Dental pain affects our emotional well-being. It can cloud the mind and emotions, make us irritable and reduce the ability to concentrate. This can lead to additional risks that range from insomnia to a reduced ability to focus while driving or operating machinery.

We often wait until the pain kicks in before we take action. It would be far wiser to maintain good oral hygiene by booking in a couple of dental check-ups each year, rather than wait for the onset of pain.

This is especially important for children who often experience worse dental pain than those with more fully developed nervous systems. It’s important to prioritise your child’s dental health from an early age and teach them good oral hygiene that they can manage for life. And for those living in Canley Heights, NSW there’s a perfect practice for us all.

Health, they say, is wealth. If this were ever true it is certainly when it comes to dental care. Failure to manage good dental health can place a heavy burden on family finances and even cause debt.

Your Canley Heights family dentists can advise you on the best dental routine for your family and ensure a well managed dental plan for each person in your home. Not only can this reduce the likelihood of suffering, but it will also improve overall health and reduce the financial burden that serious dental health problems can entail.