It is not uncommon to be racing to work or other tightly scheduled activities in the morning, trying to fit in as many things into our schedules as we can. In these circumstances it is common to omit certain aspects of our dental hygiene such as a proper amount of time for brushing or flossing. You might think that you can get away without doing it for half a day, telling yourself that you’ll make up for it later. However, you’d be very surprised how far-reaching the consequences of not taking the extra time to take care of your teeth can be – some quite expensive later on. Here’s some sobering thoughts for you to ponder about how vital it is to not ignore your oral health.

First of all, you should be striving to keep your natural teeth for as long as possible. If you are diligent about brushing and flossing carefully each day, that will play a large part in your achieving that. You’ll avoid having discomfort while eating or drinking and you’ll also save yourself costly and expensive surgeries like root canals or tooth extractions combined with dental implants or dentures. Sometimes those situations are unavoidable, but you will give yourself a much better chance by being diligent.

While the chances of these things actually occurring are small, there is something to ponder with the long-term ramifications. If you’re not careful, you could hurt your heart, your cardiovascular system. There are some possibilities that bacteria in your mouth can cause things like cancer. If you have diabetes or HIV/AIDS, that could hurt your oral health too. Talk to your dentist about an oral swab – they can explain more about this to you and how taking care of your teeth can be beneficial to you. This is not to say that dental hygiene is the sole cause of the above mentioned things – there’s many other causes, but taking that extra few minutes to do a thorough job of brushing and flossing can be nothing but a winning proposition.

Mothers have to be very careful when pregnant, since they are already at risk for more sensitive gums and teeth. Having periodontal disease while pregnant can lead to giving birth to a baby who is underweight and possibly premature. While there are a lot of things for a pregnant woman to consider when it comes to a smooth delivery – environmental factors, nutrition, and stress, this should be given a high priority.