Principles of Excellent Oral Health

Principles of Excellent Oral Health

It is interesting to note that the subject of oralhealth is glaringly ignored when one studies thevarious topics of health and fitness today.

I am often asked just what constitutes good oral healthand why is it important to the overall health of the body.While there are many aspects of and opinions on whatdetermines one's best road to oral health, we willtake a look at it from principle put forth by preventionpioneer, Dr. Robert O. Nara.

Some feel that with the right dental insurance, thelack of proper attention to the teeth and gums at homewill be compensated for during subsequent and frequent dentalvisits. Others tend to feel that preventing cavities,gum disease and tooth loss through proper home care isthe better route.

The question is, "How?" How do you keep your teeth andgums healthy for life and is it even really important?

Let's break the endeavor down to seven bite-sizefactors or 'principles' if you will:

NUTRITION:

Easily HALF of the battle for a lifetime of healthyteeth and gums will be won where the body is fed good,nutritious foods. Like the rest of the body, it doestake care of itself when it comes to growth, healingetc. Why not the teeth? Probably without prior humanintervention, the teeth and gums would do just fine,however, a strong immune system, fed by nutrient-richfoods (which we may determine is the best source ofnutrients) is going to be one of your biggest allies. We already know the benefits of good nutrition to therest of the body, but for some reason the oral cavity,the domain of the dental profession alone, is one ofthe least addressed areas of the body when it comes tothe topics of health and fitness. So we need to makechange in our...

POINTS OF VIEW:

We need to make the health of our teeth and gums a toppriority in our focus for having and keeping the bodyhealthy. While there are obvious reasons for havinghealthy teeth and gums (to say nothing of the socialaspects) science is showing more and more, in the mostrecent years, that oral infection spreads to the restof the body, with bacterial culprits colonizing inother parts of the body and being responsible fordiseases of the heart, lungs kidneys, etc. (More onthis: 'Are My Bad Teeth Killing Me?'http://mizar5.com/killing.htm ) The extent ofresponsibility oral illness plays in these diseasesmay never be known, but my opinion is that it is farmore responsible than we currently believe. Why do Isay this? I say this because oral diseases (periodontaldisease, caries, etc.) is at epidemic proportions almostworld-wide, but especially in North America, Western &Eastern Europe, Australia, etc. and because there is sucha dichotomy between the medical and dental professionsin this respect, there isn't much crossing over the line.You won't find a lot of dental research on heart diseaseand you won't find a lot of medical research linkingperiodontal pathogens with heart disease, for example.

Could you imagine if a heart researcher revealed,"We've determined that you can cut your risk of heartdisease by 90% if you brush your teeth longer..."?Big Pharma would certainly take exception!

So, what do we do?

OPTIONS:

We certainly want to take better care of our own teethand the health of those in our families. That's whywe invest in dental insurance and brush our teeth,right? What really ARE our options? Is that all wecan do, aside from visiting the dentist every 3 or 6months? Obviously, if we have an injury, we need tomake a beeline to the health professional. Likewise,if we are in such poor health where there has been somuch decay and damage done to the teeth and gums, weprobably need to get the repair work done, BUT, weneed to make the decision NEVER to let things get sobad again. Yes, the professionals are necessary butyou'd be hard pressed to locate one willing to workwith you on a full-blown program on keeping your teethand gums healthy. It just doesn't make economicalsense, PLUS the professionals' focus of education ison the mechanics of restorative work - not the biologyof the mouth...

KNOWLEDGE:

When you understand the progression of the disease youcan understand how to best deal with it on your own,how to prevent the progression and how best tocommunicate intelligently with your dentalprofessional about YOUR treatment for which YOU arepaying him or her. Sometimes they forget who isultimately paying for their service and actually needto listen and heed the concerns of the patient. Likeany other profession, trade, etc, there are excellentdental professionals, sloppy-poor ones and all thosewho fall in between the two categories. You needto do your homework in determining who you are goingto deal with, just like everything else in life. Youalso NEED to know how to best care for your own teethand gums; how to clean, how long to brush, floss,irrigate between the teeth and under the gum line sothat it really makes a difference. When you know howto prevent plaque or remove it, you are more able andwilling to take responsibility for it.

UNDERSTANDING THE BIOLOGICAL BALANCE:

Diseases in the mouth are mainly caused by bacteria. Tooth decay is caused by different bacteria thatperiodontal diseases, nonetheless, where you find one,it is considered that the environment is conducive forthe survival of the other. Pathogens are spread bykissing, sharing eating utensils, etc. - so it iscontagious. Where pathogens are not disrupted due tothorough brushing, flossing and irrigating they areable to take up residence in a tough bio-film, grow,populate and damage the teeth and mucous membranes viathe excretion of acids, which damage the oralenvironment. Neutralizing the acids and killing offthe bacteria create a clean environment whereby thebody can heal and maintain. Thus, where the immunesystem is strong, much of this dirty work is happeningnaturally, which is why I say that having a strongimmune system is half the battle. The other half ismechanical - what YOU do to keep the environmentclean.

TAKING ACTION:

Now you simply need to make the decision to do it. Get the necessary knowledge under your belt and make afew minor changes in your and your family's hygieneroutines. Start by visiting the OraMedia site forDental Self Sufficiency at http://mizar5.com and getevery one of these seven principles explained indetail, coming away with enough information to makesignificant and healthy changes within a few hours.

There are special rinses for fighting bacterial growth,brushing techniques and activities you must include suchas flossing and oral irrigation... these actions arefar more important than having ‘white teeth,’ which,in itself, has nothing to do with ‘healthy teeth.’

MONEY:

This topic may be a significant motivator for you,especially in the U.S. Don't you have better use forthe thousands and thousands of dollars commonly spenton the repair of the teeth and gums? NO AMOUNT OF REPAIROF YOUR TEETH AND GUMS ever ends the disease progress.It fixes the damage done by the disease... TEMPORARILY.If you were going to spend $5,000, $10,000 or $20,000on the repair of your teeth and gums, wouldn't you expectthat it would ALSO be the end of it??

My opinion is that you would like to keep your moneyfor other things, like spending your golden years with ahealthy bank account and a healthy set of teeth. So yes,you CAN keep your teeth and gums healthy for life. Thereis no reason to expect that you should lose your teeth inlater years any more than you should expect to lose an armor a leg due to 'old age.'

Please take the time to consider these points and dosomething about your oral health today. Why would youNOT want to do something about it for any reason otherthan ignorance? Now that you know you can dosomething better for your mouth, save your teeth,gums, possibly stave off other systemic diseasesbecause of it and save your money... there simply isno reason not to take action now.

-Tom Cornwell, Publisher
OraMedia site for Dental Self Sufficiency
http://mizar5.com

Tom Cornwell is the publisher of the OraMedia Site for Dental Self Sufficiency, and the free OraMedia Newsletter, based on the works of Dr. Robert O. Nara. Tom learned of and successfully applied Nara’s principles in 1980 and today, at 49, maintains a full set of healthy teeth. Tom feels that anyone, with the desire, can do and enjoy the same.http://mizar5.com