IMPACT OF ORAL HEALTH IN OVERALL HEALTH

INTRODUCTION 

The oral cavity is exposed to the external surroundings and from a awfully young age is colonised by infectious agents.

The mouth reflects a person's health and well-being throughout life. 

Oral health is way over simply healthy teeth; it conjointly includes the health of the many alternative anatomical structures similar to the gums, bones, ligaments, muscles, glands, and nerves. 

Problem of dental and periodontal diseases among older adults and the way they will deeply diminish quality of life and have an adverse impact on general health.

Chronic oral infections and also the manipulation of teeth and supporting structures will result in the hematogenous unfold of infection as well as the infection of artificial joints and endocardial implants. 

The World Health Organization, the 

Ontario government and knowledge from international analysis still place stress on health hindrance and also the knowledge that “the public cannot be healthy without oral health.” 

POOR ORAL HEALTH 

Poor oral health will limit food selections and diminish the pleasures of eating.

A strong relationship was found between increasing age and also the presence of tooth decay.

persons with intensive or complete tooth loss are additional doubtless to substitute easier-to-chew foods equivalent to those made in saturated fats and cholesterol for foods high in carotenes, vitamin C, and fiber.

Both tooth decay and disease contribute to tooth loss. though complete loss of all teeth (edentulous) is a smaller amount common in most high‐income countries than within the past, it's additional common with increasing age.

Tooth loss will have an effect on speech, that successively limits social interaction,detracts from physical look,and lowers self-esteem.

Tooth loss additionally affects a person's ability to chew, with a attainable negative impact on nutrition.

Complete and partial tooth loss were higher among older persons with inflammatory disease, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pneumonic sickness, diabetes, and low vision/blindness compared with persons while not these conditions.

Invasive dental procedures (periodontal therapy and tooth extraction), doubtless avertible with early treatment and hindrance, inflated the incidence of cerebrovascular accident and heart muscle infarctions.

Poor oral hygiene together with disease was incontestable  to be related to a spread of medical conditions including upset and DM.

Improved dental hygiene was shown to be related to improvement in surrogate measures of upset together with a reduced progression of arteria intima‐media thickness.

 many meta‐analyses showed that improved oral hygiene reduces Hb A1c levels. 

High sugar consumption is related to tooth decay.

Photo credit: www.wikipedia.com 

DIABETES 

Diabetes mellitus will justify the exaggerated destruction of tissue seen in diabetic periodontal disease. 

Evidence conjointly suggests that periodontitis could be a risk issue for DM which preventing and treating periodontal disease could have a control on each the incidence and control of diabetes mellitus.

In turn, like different infections, periodontitis has been shown to exacerbate glycemic management in diabetic patients, and lower overall medical prices are seen among diabetic patients who receive correct periodontal care.

Promoting smart oral health and preventing oral infections will be else to the long list of advantages that occur once patients with DM have good diabetic management significantly necessary for older patients with diabetes mellitus. 

DENTAL CARIES 

Dental caries, commonly referred to as tooth decay, is a continual disease with an infectious component this is normal worldwide. 

Although all age businesses are at risk, older adults are greater vulnerable to dental caries.

The pathogenesis of dental caries consists of the presence of cariogenic bacteria, substantially Streptococcus mutans and lactobacilli that the use of enamel biofilm as a substrate produce an acidic environment. 

Dental caries, if left untreated, leads to the extension of caries past the dental surface to the dental pulp, which is both critical to teeth integrity and greater at risk of contamination and damage than the greater resilient enamel floor. 

Damage to the dental pulp may cause pulp necrosis, pulp infection, and subsequently dental root infections and root abscesses.

Symptoms of a dental abscess consist of fever, dysphagia, trismus, and swelling. In excessive cases, cellulitis, airway obstruction, and cavernous sinus thrombosis can pose life‐threatening outcomes for the patient. 

Untreated, dental caries results in tooth loss that leads to masticatory dysfunction and cosmetic modifications that each have a negative effect at the patients quality of lifestyles and basic health.

Tooth loss changed into shown to be related to weight loss and a low serum albumen.

Healthcare companies who offer medical care for older adults can play an crucial role in the prevention and identification of dental caries. 

XEROSTOMIA 

Commonly used medicine which will induce xerostomia embrace tricyclic antidepressant drug antidepressants, antipsychotics, atropinics, β-blockers, and antihistamines.

Saliva protects teeth against cavity by lubricating the mouth and gums, that successively reduces microorganism growth, and provides minerals, corresponding to metal, phosphate, and halide required to remineralize tooth surfaces wherever decay is simply starting. 

Receding gums, related to periodontal diseases, are a lot of common in older adults and expose root surfaces to decay-causing microorganism. 

CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE

COPD exacerbations are a significant reason for morbidity, seriously impair quality of life, and may end in irreversible loss of respiratory organ perform.

Oral and nasal bacterium are known within the COPD respiratory organ tissue microbiota, suggesting aspiration of oral secretions as a significant supply of the COPD respiratory organ microbiota.

Periodontal disease and poor oral health are related to variety of general diseases, as well as COPD.

oral microbiota and oral inflammation play key roles during this relationship between dentition standing and COPD exacerbations.

Lung inflammation could also be mediate by aspiration of inflammatory cytokines from the oral cavity, or aspiration of a dysbiotic oral microbiota could result in dysbiosis of the respiratory organ microbiota. 

The presence of morbid teeth permits for intensive biofilm formation, that then might be aspirated into the lungs, thereby causative to COPD exacerbations.

PERIODONTITIS 

Periodontal disease could be a common oral chronic disease typically found in older adults. 

Several studies have shown an association between periodontitis and adverse outcomes in physiological state love premature deliveries, foetal growth restriction, and alternative complications. 

However, the explanations for the associations aren't clear.

Healthcare suppliers who give treatment for older adults will play a very important role within the prevention and identification of periodontitis.

PREGNANCY 

Pregnancy could create women a lot of vulnerable to periodontal (gum) sickness and cavities. 

Oral health could also be thought of a vital a part of prenatal  care, providing poor oral health throughout pregnancy will result in poor health outcomes for the mother and baby.

If periodontitis isn't treated, the bone that supports the teeth are often lost, and also the gums will become infected. 

Teeth with very little bone support will become loose and should eventually need to be extracted. 

Periodontitis has conjointly been related to poor physiological state outcomes, as well as preterm birth and low birth weight.

Women who have a great deal of cavity-causing microorganism throughout physiological state and when delivery may transmit these bacteria from their mouth to the mouth of their baby.

Photo credit: www.cdc.gov 

TOOTH LOSS AND DEMENTIA 

I have previously posted about tooth loss and dementia if you want to see that please click here 

PROSTHETIC JOINT INFECTION

Dental procedures will result in transient bacteremia, and in theory this might end in seeding of a prosthetic joint.

prophylactic antibiotic given before a medical procedure decreases the speed of transient bacteremia , there's no evidence that transient bacteremia is related to Prosthetic joint infection, or as is that the case with the employment of antibiotics to stop carditis following dental procedures, that antibiotic bar before dental procedures decreases rates of Prosthetic joint infection.

maintaining smart oral hygiene because the primary suggests that of limiting the event of Prosthetic joint infection. 

dental prophylaxis, inflict 2 g amoxicillin or cephalexin is usually used for patients while not a penicillin hypersensitivity reaction, and 900 mg clindamycin will be prescribed in patients with a penicillin allergic reaction.

ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION 

National Institutes of Health accord Panel on Impotence as a persistent or perennial inability to own enough erection for satisfactory sexual performance.

Studies within the recent years have tried to explore the link between periodontitis and impotence by conducive to an enlarged level of endothelial dysfunction.

Endothelial dysfunction is that the key event within the pathophysiology of erectile dysfunction, and this was additionally found in different vascular beds, in males affected with erectile organ tube disfunction.

Reduction in TNF-α levels once successful  dental medicine treatment, it absolutely was additionally evident that vital higher plasma levels of TNF-α were related to moderate to severe erectile dysfunction. 

CONCLUSION 

The affiliation between oral health and overall health and well-being can not be neglected.

Good oral health is crucial to healthy aging. 

Because effective interventions to stop and management oral disease exist, smart oral health will be achieved by older adults. 

The public health system will play an important role in making certain that this happens.

REFERENCE 

• Coll, P.P., Lindsay, A., Meng, J., Gopalakrishna, A., Raghavendra, S., Bysani, P. and O'Brien, D. (2020), The Prevention of Infections in Older Adults: Oral Health. J Am Geriatr Soc, 68: 411-416. doi:10.1111/jgs.16154. 
• Susan O. Griffin, Judith A. Jones, DDS,  Diane Brunson, Paul M. Griffin, and William D. Bailey. (2012).Burden of Oral Disease Among Older Adults and Implications for Public Health Priorities. Available at URL:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3487659/. [Accessed at 28 June 2020]. 
• Institute of Medicine (US) Board on Health Care Services. The U.S. Oral Health Workforce in the Coming Decade: Workshop Summary. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2009. 2, The Connection Between Oral Health and Overall Health and Well-Being.
• https://www.cdc.gov/oralhealth/publications/features/pregnancy-and-oral-health.html
• Vijendra P. Singh, Sunil K. Nettemu,Sowmya Nettem, Rajesh Hosadurga,and Sangeeta U.Nayak.(2017).Oral Health and Erectile Dysfunction. Available at URL :https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5672720/ [Accessed at 29 June 2020] 
• Arianne K Baldomero, Mariam Siddiqui, Chia-Yin Lo,Ashley Petersen,Alexa A Pragman,John E Connett, Ken M Kunisaki,and Chris H Wendt. (2019).The relationship between oral health and COPD exacerbations. Available at URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6497835/#!po=75.4545. [Accessed at 28 June 2020]