Brushing and flossing your teeth and gums can keep your mouth clean and smile bright, but it takes much more to maintain a healthy mouth – and maintaining a healthy mouth can contribute to overall better well-being.

           Regular professional dental examinations and cleanings by your Park West dentist are as essential to your fitness as eating right and getting enough exercise. New research is confirming that gum disease has been linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases and the birth of pre-term, low-birth weight babies.

            Estimates are that some 75 percent of adults over the age of 30 have some degree of gum disease. For those individuals, gum tissue can be easily injured – even by just brushing their teeth or chewing gum, and this injury can allow oral bacteria to enter the bloodstream, potentially worsening or causing other types of health problems.

            Dental-related illnesses in children can lower their self-esteem and lead to problems with eating, speaking and participating in school. Unfortunately, however, according to a recent Surgeon General’s Report, thirty-seven percent of children begin their first day of kindergarten without ever having seen a dentist.