4 Global Health Concerns Which Can Result from Poor Oral Health

If you think that you won’t be playing a major role in helping avoid some very serious diseases by working as a dental assistant, you are so very wrong. Check out the best-dentalassistantschools.com in Arizona, for example, to get you started on a career in which you can be doing more than assisting a dentist.

You could be playing a significant role in saving each patient’s life. If you are wondering how working as a dental assistant can accomplish something this monumental, just consider these four health concerns, which can be caused or exacerbated by poor oral health.

1. Cardiovascular Disease

While most people know that poor oral health can lead to heart disease because it’s widely publicized, do you know why this happens? Actually, the cause is bacteria from periodontal disease, which can enter the bloodstream. This can easily lead to plaque building up along arterial walls, causing them to harden. Eventually, these blockages can lead to a heart attack, and the sad fact is, heart disease and strokes account for more than 54 percent of deaths around the world.

In some cases, the heart itself can become infected, and when this infection results in endocarditis, the condition can be and often is fatal.

2. Respiratory Infections

Here again, those nasty bacteria that build up as a result of poor oral hygiene can be literally inhaled into the lungs! When bacteria hit the lungs, a person can suffer a number of respiratory illnesses, which include acute bronchitis, COPD, and pneumonia. And, if you think those conditions can’t be fatal, you have been misled.

According to the latest figures from the CDC, pneumonia-related deaths have reached epidemic proportions.

3. Complications in Pregnancy

Who would have ever thought that poor oral hygiene could be the cause of premature birth? Actually, any infection in the expectant mother can increase the risk of giving birth prematurely. Low birth weight and undeveloped organs can have serious consequences for the preemie. Why risk your baby’s health because you don’t follow proper procedures in keeping your gums free from infection? As a dental assistant, you can spend a few moments with pregnant moms to explain how oral infections can ultimately lead to premature birth.

You are not diagnosing, you are educating and that is a task often delegated to dental assistants.

4. Cancer

When it comes to your health, everyone knows that smoking is simply not good for you and is a leading cause of cancer. It has been established that smoking interferes with oral health and can lead to cancers of the gums and throat. However, there are other gum diseases caused by infections, which have been directly linked to other types of cancer such as pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, and even cancers of the blood.

An increasing amount of data suggests that poor oral health is a contributing factor in the development of several types of cancer.

These are just four of the issues which poor oral health can lead to. As a dental assistant anywhere in the world, you can help to inform patients on ways to practice better oral hygiene, which in turn, can help to avoid contracting these diseases.