Say cheese! It’s Oral Hygiene Day today!

August 1 is dedicated to Oral Hygiene! Dentists mark this day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr GB Shankwalkar — the doyen of gum diseases in India. Disease of the gum, commonly known as pyorrhea, affects 95% of our countries population as revealed by the recent National Oral Health program.

Pyorrhea or periodontitis is common because it’s a painless and a slowly progressing disease, so either it goes unrecognized or it is left untreated. One may question the need to treat this considering you do not have any pain in this condition. Well, in that case, you should know that gums form the foundation and skeleton of teeth, and gum disease though painless, destroys the supporting structures of the teeth slowly, and make it loose and is ultimately lost! This makes it important to treat this disease at the right stage.

The most common problems are bleeding gums and bad breath. These are the early signs which if ignored lead to teeth decay and appearance of new spaces between the teeth. The most recommended way to prevent such problems is good brushing and getting your teeth cleaned by your dentist once in every six months.

Unlike the false beliefs, dental cleaning does not harm the enamel of the tooth, it only takes away the hard tartar deposited on the teeth due to which one may have a feeling of emptiness and transient sensitivity but it disappears within a week. Regular professional visit and cleaning is the sure shot way to prevent your teeth of any old age woes!

For a good home care, besides just brushing your teeth twice daily, do not forget to clean your tongue for a fresh breath. Most of the bad breath producing bacteria resides on our tongue, and thus leaving it untouched becomes the major cause of foul breath odor. Other oral hygiene aids include dental floss and inter-dental brushes which take care of the portion where the regular brush cannot reach — in between the teeth.

However, if you have already crossed the basic stage of the disease and you have loose teeth and spaces between the teeth, then the good news is that these can be corrected by a periodontist. After a thorough examination and radiographs, your dentist decides if you can be a candidate for treatment and if so then the periodontist can make your loose teeth firm and strong again by means of specific gum surgeries and bone grafts. In selective cases, gum surgeries can even bring the receded gums back to a normal level.

Maintaining healthy gums is also directly related to your general health, if your gums are infected then they become a direct source of releasing some amount of bacteria in your blood each time that you brush or chew. This affects the maintenance of your blood sugar levels if you are diabetic and even reduces the success rates of the artificial valves placed in your heart if you have a cardiac problem.

Though the gum diseases are the most common and the most unidentified, they are the easiest to prevent with a good regular oral care.