Oral Health and Overall Health

New research is proving what dentists have always known: oral health belongs alongside diet and nutrition, physical activity, stress management and tobacco cessation and sleep as the fifth pillar of wellness, because of the role oral health plays in the management and prevention of many chronic conditions.

If we think of the body as a house and the mouth as the kitchen, then gum disease is the fire in the kitchen that may burn down the house.  Oral inflammation (gum disease) shows up not only in periodontal disease, which is the most common inflammatory disease in humans and afflicts 85% of U.S. adults, but it can also be due to crowded teeth, abscessed teeth, cancers, poor oral health habits, impacted wisdom teeth and cavities.  Periodontal disease is much more than just "bleeding gums". The mouth is the doorway for most of the disease causing bacteria that affect our health and the location for possible infections that could affect your overall health.  The by-products of oral inflammation spread throughout the body and influence all inflammatory disease found in humans.

Dentistry is one of the few areas of medicine which has always focused on prevention first.  The job of a dentist is not to be your only medical expert, but to work with the medical profession to improve your care and your overall health.