Diabetes And Your Oral Health
At Smile Dental Clinics, we are not just interested in your oral health. We are also concerned with your overall health. There are many medical conditions that can be linked to your oral health and vice versa. This is one of the main reasons we encourage our patients to share their medical history with our team. We want to be sure that we are treating you properly and can be more diligent in looking for problem areas in your mouth. One medical condition that can impact your oral health is diabetes. Diabetes is a condition that affects your body’s ability to process sugar correctly. There are two forms of diabetes, type I and type II, and both forms can lead to serious problems with your heart, eyes, kidneys, and other parts of your body.
Diabetes can take a toll on your oral health and lead to issues such as:
- Difficulty producing saliva, or dry mouth
- Higher risk of cavities
- Bleeding and inflamed gums
- Higher susceptibility to wounds and sores in the mouth
- Being prone to infections in the mouth
Diabetes and Gum Disease
In addition to the issues mentioned above, patients with diabetes are more prone to developing gum disease. Since people with diabetes are more likely to have infections and constantly have fluctuating blood sugar levels, gum issues can become a problem. One of the best ways to ensure that you are not experiencing a problem with gum disease is to continue to maintain your routine oral hygiene appointments. We can closely monitor your gums and provide dental intervention as soon as we detect a problem. It is also important that you are thoroughly brushing your teeth for two minutes twice a day and flossing daily.
If you or a loved one suffers from diabetes, we encourage you to be diligent with your oral health. If you have not had a hygiene examination and cleaning in some time, we recommend that you schedule an appointment at our office in Phoenix, AZ as soon as possible.
