In addition to what occurs in the mouth, maintaining good dental health is crucial. Yet, the inverse is also possible: Your dental health may be negatively impacted by other aspects of your health. For instance, stress has been linked to a number of issues with dental health. The following are common questions to arise before learning more about dental health.
- Does diabetes fall under this?
- Can having diabetes cause issues with the mouth?
- It’s a relationship that goes both ways, namely,
- can dental health issues worsen diabetic symptoms?
- Sadly, the answer is true in both situations.
Diabetes can result in issues with the mouth and teeth. Similar to how poor dental health issues are a risk factor that might make managing diabetes more challenging. Given the connection between diabetes and heart disease, stroke, and other conditions, it is obvious that this is a vicious cycle in which, if either ailment is not treated, the other could keep getting worse, with detrimental, even fatal, repercussions.
Let’s Examine the Interaction:
Diabetes can cause problems with dental health for a number of reasons, not just one. Plaque, the film that attaches to your teeth, is produced when high levels of sugar and starch combine with the bacteria that are already present in your mouth. Your teeth’s surface is attacked by the acids in plaque, which may cause tooth decay and gum disease. Diabetes causes high blood sugar spikes, which increases the amount of sugar and starch available to the bacteria in the mouth. You cause more harm the more plaque you produce.
Mouth Ache:
Dry mouth (xerostomia), which is a common symptom, is frequently the cause of dental health issues, at least in part. A person with diabetes frequently has a relative lack of saliva, and without a moist mouth and moistened teeth, they are more likely to develop a range of dental and dental diseases.
An dental condition like periodontitis, which is a severe gum disease that is three times more common in diabetics, has a significant likelihood of further boosting blood sugar levels, making it harder to control diabetes. This unfavorable link also operates in the other direction.
There is a lot of scientific evidence demonstrating both the positive and negative relationships between dental health issues and diabetes. Knowing what dental health issues diabetes might cause is crucial once the connection has been made.
Diabetes Might Result in Dental Health Issues:
- Plaque buildup can cause issues ranging from gingivitis, which is uncomfortable but manageable to treat, to periodontitis, a more serious form of gum disease.
- Plaque that remains on the tooth’s surface for a long period irritates the gums, causing them to swell and bleed readily. This condition is known as gingivitis. Another typical side effect is bad breath.
- Although while gingivitis may be unpleasant, it doesn’t usually result in long-term harm and is quite simple to treat; all that’s needed is for a dental hygienist to remove the tartar.
- Periodontitis, a more severe form of gum disease that causes bone and tissue to erode and can cause teeth to become loose to the point of coming out, can develop from gingivitis.
Diabetes And Gum Disease:
A major medical condition called periodontitis has been linked to heart disease and can exacerbate diabetes. Also, it is a disorder that needs specialized care; just mouthwash won’t get rid of the issue. It can be very difficult for someone who has bleeding gums to distinguish between gingivitis and periodontitis because the symptoms are similar but the harm is very different. It’s critical to properly manage symptoms, and anyone with diabetes is especially advised to do so given their 300% higher risk of developing periodontitis.
Infections:
Moreover, diabetes can cause thrush, a fungal infection that can cause ulcers (painful red and white patches inside the mouth). Diabetes can also cause dry mouth, which raises your chance of developing gum disease since it deprives your mouth of the saliva that naturally fights bacteria. In summary, patients with diabetes have a significant frequency of gum disease. Ways to lower the likelihood that diabetes will cause dental health issues. A proper dental hygiene practice is the first piece of advice for someone with diabetes, much of which is also applicable to non-diabetics.
Electric toothbrushes should be used to brush teeth twice a day, and interdental brushes or dental floss should also be used. Your diet has an effect on your dental health as well; food that is high in sugar or acids is obviously not a good choice.
Don’t Smoke:
Smoking should also be avoided because it greatly increases the risk of developing mouth cancer as well as gum disease. A more targeted piece of advice would be to always mention your diabetes while seeing your dentist and hygienist. Your gum health must be continuously evaluated in order to catch any issues in their early stages given the significant risk of developing gum disease and the subsequent impact this will have on diabetes.
Prevention:
Anybody with diabetes who is worried about their dental health should follow these basic steps: Improve your dental hygiene and adjust your diet in a healthy way (and, for smokers, try to quit, or at least cut back). To ensure that there is an easy point of reference in the event that gum issues are discovered, schedule a check-up with a dentist and select an office with a team of hygienists and a periodontist (a dentist who specializes in gum disease).
Ali.M