How Your Oral Care Impacts Your Overall Immune System
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Dental hygiene is something we maintain and work on every day. The most common way to keep your dental hygiene is by brushing your teeth, something every person in the world is familiar with.
Because it is so common and incorporated into our daily routines, many people do not give oral care a second thought. They do not consider that it impacts our overall health, and by extension, our health in general.
Yet, it does.
Like all else in the human body, oral care is connected and can affect the function of other parts of your body, thus affecting the immune system in general.
And although it is a common practice and often overlooked, maintaining your oral care and keeping your teeth and mouth healthy is vital to the function of the rest of your body.
This article will cover all the ways oral care impacts your overall immune system and discuss how you can improve your oral care.
But, first, a little about the immune system.
THE NETWORK KNOWN AS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
The immune system is one of the most complicated networks known to man. It works 24/7, and it is not allowed a coffee break.
The immune system simultaneously fights every germ within a person’s body and keeps track of what kind of germs it has fought against and exactly where the fight took place.
There are two main parts of the immune system:
– The innate immune system – which we are born with
– The adaptive immune system – which we adapt when we expose our bodies to microbes and the chemicals those microbes release
So, now that we know a little more about the immune system let’s move on to how oral care impacts it.
THE IMPACT OF ORAL CARE
Even though the immune system is our personal superhero, it has limits like everything else in life.
Our bodies produce numerous antibodies and white blood cells daily, but a limit does exist when it comes to producing them all at once.
What does this mean? Well, suppose your immune cells are in the process of waging war against infections and bacteria that have formed in your mouth.
In that case, there will be fewer soldiers, i.e., cells left to deal with enemies located throughout the rest of your body.
Waging war on oral care deficiencies can be a tasking job, exhausting to the immune system.
Thus, it is crucial to maintain good oral care so that immune cells will be accessible to battle other threats and keep them at bay.
HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR ORAL CARE
Now, we move on to the essential part of this article.
How do we improve our oral care so that our immune system is not stretched thin and can tend to other threats in our bodies? Here are some tips.
Brushing Twice a Day Is the First Step
Every person worldwide can agree that we should brush our teeth twice a day, every day. It’s a must. We should brush once in the morning and once before going to sleep.
Brushing twice a day will keep bacteria at bay.
Moreover, to be as efficient as possible, you should consider using the PomaBrush. The PomaBrush does not damage your teeth and gums, no matter how often you brush them.
Also, it has a nylon brush head with soft bristles that allows for a pain-free experience when brushing.
The PomaBrush can reach places between the teeth that a regular brush cannot, so you can rest assured that, with the PomaBrush, you will reduce the bacteria in your mouth as efficiently as possible.
Next Step – Flossing
If you floss once a day, you will aid the improvement of your oral care. Any time is a good time for flossing. You don’t have to have a designated flossing time.
When flossing, you should make sure to be thorough so that you can remove food, plaque, and bacteria from your teeth effectively.
Mouthwash After Meals
Using mouthwash after meals could further help to keep your mouth and teeth fresh and clean. Of course, it is not supposed to be a substitute for brushing or flossing.
However, mouthwash can keep your breath fresh and can get rid of bacteria.
Less Sugar, Less Problems
As we have all no doubt been told in our youth, sugar rots your teeth. Sadly, it is true.
Reducing your sugar intake and having a balanced diet low in sugar but high in vegetables, fruits, and lean meats will help reduce the bacteria in your mouth.
Also, if your sugar intake is lower, the bacteria that sugar carries will be decreased, and many issues like cavities, plaque, and tooth decay can be avoided.
Clean Your Teeth Professionally
Another thing that significantly improves your oral care, and with that, your immune system, is letting your dentist clean your teeth. Preferably, it would be best if you cleaned your teeth every six months.
This way, your dentists will not only clean every nook and crevice there is, but they will also give you tips that are custom-made just for you.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We can conclude that oral care has a significant impact on our immune system.
If we disregard our oral care and do not keep our teeth clean and healthy, the immune system will struggle to keep up with helping every part of the body.
And if the immune system struggles, we struggle.
Therefore, it is best for us to carefully follow the tips given above in this article and be attentive to our oral hygiene. Because after all, it is the least we can do for our immune system, considering everything it does for us.