Can your lifestyle and health be the reason you get tooth decay and gum disease? We know we need to brush and floss and watch our sugar intake if we want to have healthy teeth and gums. Yet for many people despite following the advice they still get dental problems. Dr Rachel Hall Kenmore dentist explains that there is more to tooth decay and dental disease.
The way we live and the choices we make influence our state of being, health and vitality.
Making choices that support and care for your body every day and making them part of your lifestyle will help you to have a healthy life and a healthy mouth.
Dental disease is a sign of systemic illness and imbalance and no amount of good oral hygiene will fix that. Yes, a healthy mouth is crucial for having a healthy body but the two go hand in hand.
The basics of healthy living are not a mystery and are the same for virtually all of us:
Despite improved oral health education and controversial water fluoridation programs tooth decay, gum disease and oral health issues are on the increase.
Excessive carbohydrate and sugar consumption along with stressful lifestyle = acidity and leaching of minerals = increased risk for tooth decay and gum disease. Fluoride is not the answer!
The answer is to rebalance the body, create an alkaline environment and increase mineral uptake and absorption to be able to remineralise and strengthen tooth enamel naturally and in return reduce the number of bacteria present in the mouth.
This can be achieved through diet and lifestyle.
The environment we live in and the way we live is more toxic and unsupportive to health and wellbeing than ever before and the only way to handle the pressure of modern life is to truly care for yourself.
Unfortunately, more and more people living busy lifestyles are relying on caffeine and sugar to keep them going and then turning to food and alcohol to help them relax. With modern technology and the need to get more done people are staying up later, not getting enough sleep or quality sleep and feeling exceedingly stressed on a daily basis.
No amount of good oral hygiene practices can make up for the effects of poor lifestyle habits.
This would be like thinking that you can stay up really late every night then thinking you can make up the lost sleep hours by having a lie in on a Sunday morning. The damage is already being done.
The Keys to Dental Health
Balancing stress, diet/nutrition, sleep quality, hydration, tooth brushing and flossing are the keys to dental health. It has to be a total body package, aimed at achieving balance and harmony throughout the body as a whole.
Improving your health and in turn, preventing dental problems may mean making some big changes to your lifestyle. It comes back to making a commitment to caring for yourself and sticking to it.
Make small manageable changes and take things to step by step and in this way, you will be on your way to a healthier life and have a healthier mouth before you know it.
Rachel is the founder and principal dentist at Evolve Dental Healing with over 30 years experience, practising holistically since 2001. Not your typical dentist, Rachel is a passionate opinion leader, challenging convention to empower people to make better dental and health choices, helping thousands to have healthy natural smiles. A respected writer and presenter on holistic dentistry, health and wellness it is Rachel’s mission to revolutionise the way people look at their dental health.
