Why Care About Dental Hygiene?
Dental hygiene is an essential component to a person's overall health. Poor dental hygiene can lead to tooth decay, gum disease and bad breath. More serious illness results from the absence of brushing your teeth and flossing. The health of your mouth is an indication of your overall health.
College students tend to be focused on their academics, athletics, and social lives. Therefore, their health often times takes a back seat. In addition, college students are exposed to all kinds of drugs and tend to use substances such as alcohol and marijuana or tobacco products on a regular basis. Long-term consequences aren't always considered by teens and those in their early twenties as they are often consumed by short-term gratification. As a result, college students tend to ignore the harmful effects drugs have on their dental hygiene. In addition, they forget to brush and floss due to time constraints, especially on the weekends when partying. Raising awareness is important to prevent or reduce the risk of long-term health effects that people may encounter not only in their dental hygiene, but in many other areas of their body as well.
In 2010, researchers from New York University (NYU) found that there is a link between gum inflammation and Alzheimer's disease. In addition, they found that gum disease at the age of 70 was significantly correlated with low scores for cognitive function.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found a strong association between gum disease and pancreatic cancer in 2007. Men with a history of gum disease had a 64% increased risk of pancreatic cancer compared with men who never had gum disease.
In 2008, researches from Bristol University in the U.K. and the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland found that people with bleeding gums due to a lack of dental hygiene are potentially increasing their risk of heart disease. People who have bleeding gums experience bacteria from the mouth entering the bloodstream and sticking to platelets. Blood clots are then formed disrupting the flow of blood to the heart and triggering a heart attack.
Your mouth is an indicator of your overall health. There are approximately 700 bacteria co-existing in the mouth making it one of the dirtiest places in the human body. That's why it's important to care about dental hygiene and look after your oral health.