Hi,
It is very beautiful fall day today.
What is gum disease? It is a very common disease caused by bacteria living in our mouth, around and over our teeth, below our gum and close to our bone surrounding our teeth. They eat the food we leave around our teeth and they produce toxins. These toxins cause bone loss and eventual tooth loss when there is no bone supporting it, on top of causing gum disease and tooth decay. Here is when brushing and flossing help. They clean the food away and starve the bacteria to death hence healthy mouth. When white cells are told of toxins by little informers, they rush to the site to clean them up and defending our body. But if we are not keeping on top of brushing and flossing then there will be too many bacteria in our mouth and our immune system can not defend us against them. Though white cells not only destroy bad guys but they destroy our cells as well.
Upon alarms going up that toxins are attacking our tissues, blood vessels opens up sending defense cells to the tissue but having encountered too many bad guys, our blood vessels stay open therefore causing bleeding upon flossing or even brushing. This inflammatory reaction by our body will cause swelling of our gums as well, hence providing more of a safe heaven under our gums for bacteria. As bacteria dig deeper and deeper below the gum, they cause more bone loss and making it harder for us to clean that far down under our gums. As bacteria go deeper they become worse kind of pathogens.
The risk factors for periodontal disease are:
– Medications: they can do this through reduction of saliva which is very important in keeping our mouth healthy
– Smoking: Through toxic chemicals
– Hormonal changes in women
– Diabetes: Make people more prone to infections
– Stress: Makes it harder for our immune system to fight infection
– Diseases: Such as cancer or AIDS
– Genetic factor
How to prevent periodontal disease:
– Brush and floss. Get the food away from our teeth as soon as finished eating
– Don’t smoke (Not surprised eh?)
– Eat balanced diet
– Visit your dentist for a check-up and cleaning at least once a year
I hope this helps. To be continued…
