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How Your Oral Health Affects Your Overall Health

By Nadia Murdock

When it comes to oral health, we all know we may need to do more to support it, but often put it off, either because it’s not prioritized, or you just don’t like going to the dentist. You may want to think twice before putting off your next appointment. Not seeing the dentist can lead to the risk of tooth and gum disease. It doesn’t stop there, some major health issues can come from neglecting your oral health like heart disease, diabetes, stroke and breast cancer. Shocking right? 

According to the CDC, “More than 1 in 4 (26%) adults in the United States have untreated tooth decay. Gum disease. Nearly half (46%) of all adults aged 30 years or older show signs of gum disease; severe gum disease affects about 9% of adults.”

Healthified spoke with Matt Callister, DMD, Cofounder of Elementa, Revolutionary Oral Care to get a full understanding of how important oral health care is.

Healthified: What are the different practices that can support oral care?

Matt Callister (MC): The thing that best supports your oral environment is acid neutralization, so anything that helps your mouth become more alkaline for longer. Ways to do that are: 1- Try not to snack, every time you eat it pH in your mouth drops so eating 3 square meals will help a lot. 2- Avoid carbohydrates, carbs are specifically what the acid-causing bacteria like to eat so don’t help them out! 3- Use oral care products that focus on killing acid-causing bacteria that also help neutralize the oral environment, like Elementa mouth rinse for example. Elementa uses cutting-edge Nano-Silver technology to bust through your plaque barrier and neutralize oral acid! Specially formulated to be alkaline, Elementa assists in immediately neutralizing cavity-causing acid. This natural solution is lab tested to remineralize 2.39X* faster than fluoride while maintaining an alkaline pH. You will be surprised how many traditional products actually make your mouth MORE acidic after using them.

Healthified: What are some non-traditional techniques worth exploring?

MC: Increasing salivary flow is not typically something that’s talked about very much and it should be. The body’s way of protecting your teeth is salivating because it’s able to neutralize oral acid and is also laced with calcium to help maintain the mineralization of the teeth. Again the avoidance of snacking is one of those things that helps, although it especially helps to not snack on sugars, carbohydrates can be found in anything which will trigger a decrease in oral pH. 

Healthified: How is oral care connected to your overall health?

MC: Having a healthy oral environment is obviously connected with the reduction of tooth decay, tooth sensitivity, and other oral benefits but there are other halo effects of good oral care. Those benefits include improved heart, gut, and digestive health. Additionally, good oral health is also linked to a reduced risk of cancer and infertility. 

Healthified: What are some adverse effects of ignoring your oral care?

MC: Considering that your mouth is the entry point for all life-sustaining substances it’s obviously very important to keep it healthy because of the trickle-down effect it has on every other organ. Therefore, ignoring sound dental practices has an adverse effect on virtually every part of the body. So take care of your mouth!

Everything in our bodies is connected so it’s important to take care of ourselves in every aspect. Then there is your oral microbiome to consider, which pertains to the community of microorganisms and beneficial bacteria residing in your oral cavity, adding an extra layer of importance to take care of it. So how will you start to revise your oral healthcare?

For more information visit: Elementa

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