Srinagar : On the World Oral Health Day, doctors in Kashmir have asked people to maintain the oral hygiene for a healthy lifestyle.
Doctors while talking said that oral and dental health is the most ignored aspect of the health in J&K as people visit for check up only when they have complex issues.
While the dentists were again and again insisting that the public should undergo their oro-dental check-up every six months but patients only report when they have severe toothache and swelling of the face, they said, adding that an unhealthy mouth not only impacts general health but it can have a severe impact on people’s emotional, social, mental, and overall physical well-being.
Dr Shahanwaz working in Anantnag said that the pathogenic and virulent bacteria which causes dental infections can transport and spread via blood to cause infections in the vital organs of the body and sometimes dental infections can be dangerous and can invoke damage to the other parts of the body.
“The harmful bacteria or even their products can travel through bloodstream to different organs causing direct damage or through the process of inflammation,” he said, adding that the commonest reason for occurrence of gum disease is infection due to bacteria which, if left untreated, may progress to periodontitis causing destruction of the supporting structures of a tooth.
“The human body responds to these bacteria by activating an immune response leading to inflammation which is a protective response against the harmful stimulus. But when this inflammation is excessive then it may cause damage to the normal body tissues,” he said.
Periodontitis which is a disease of supporting tissues of teeth may lead to chronic inflammation and inturn be a risk factor in heart problems, complications during pregnancy, dysregulated control of diabetes, Covid-19 complications, lung and kidney problems, he said.
Another doctor from Dental College Srinagar said that bleeding during toothbrushing or after biting on hard surfaces like an apple, recession of gingiva, swollen gums and loosening or mobility of teeth may be the features of periodontitis.
He said that people should stop self-medicating for tooth infections.” Around 90 percent of the people in Kashmir believe that consuming painkillers will solve their problems. But this is not true. So, it is better to opt for proper oral hygiene and early treatment,” he said.
Tobacco chewing, smoking affects the oral health while oral diseases like gum diseases affect people, he said, adding that prioritizing oral health is important and the need of the hour as oral hygiene leads to a healthy lifestyle—(KNO)
