Good Dental Health? What Is It?

Good dental health is more than a pretty smile.

It is recommended that dental care begin at an early age. Primary teeth are important because they are the teeth you have when you first start to eat, speak and develop a self-image, and they are critical in maintaining space for permanent teeth. Your mouth is not healthy if you have teeth that are missing, painful or broken — or if your gums are sore, swollen or have sores.
Teeth help you to chew food by breaking the food into smaller particles. Teeth, along with saliva, are the first step in digesting food. Are you avoiding healthy foods because you are not able to properly chew food due to pain or because you are missing teeth? Improperly chewing foods due to dental issues can also cause digestive problems. Our teeth are each shaped differently, depending on their function, and they are all important for chewing.



In addition to self-esteem related to our smile, teeth and overall appearance, our teeth, tongue and saliva also help with our speech and language. The wetting action of saliva aids in speech while the teeth form the structure the tongue uses to make sounds.
Our teeth help us to smile and eat, but good oral health also impacts general and overall health throughout a person's life. Oral diseases have been linked to diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
According to the Department of Public Health, untreated cavities in children can result in pain, infection, poor attentiveness in class, missed school and low self-esteem. Your dentist can provide preventive care to maintain oral health and detect problems at an early stage. Dental care is important, yet some do not receive regular dental care or cleanings for various reasons, including but not limited to a lack of resources or knowledge of importance of dental health.