Surprisingly, dental health is connected to a lot of health problems, such as endocarditis (an infection in the heart), cardiovascular disease, pregnancy complications, pneumonia, Alzheimer’s, and more. Really, dental health is super important because it bridges us and our enjoyment of food. Having dental problems can be painful, especially because it affects the way you enjoy food, something you have to consume to live.
If you’re someone who gets a lot of cavities, is afraid of losing your teeth when you get older, or prone to dental problems, this article is the one for you. You may also want to continue reading if you plan on kissing someone on Valentine’s Day.
You may be wondering: If I’m kissing someone, how does that really affect me?
When you kiss someone, you are exchanging saliva and bacteria with that person. In rare cases, you may exchange bacteria that causes meningococcal disease, which can lead to meningitis. This can cause permanent hearing loss, epilepsy, problems with memory, vision loss, kidney problems, and more. And yes, you can also get viruses orally, such as colds, glandular fever, herpes, hepatitis B, and warts (HPV), although getting hepatitis B and HPV through kissing is rare.
Please be mindful of these things when you share a kiss with someone or even share a meal, drink, or makeup with friends. Any saliva-to-saliva contact can potentially affect you, even more if there’s open sores or bleeding gums. It is important to recognize that there are consequences to these actions. It’s not about trusting the other person because a person can have something and not even know it, including you. It’s about protecting you and the other person. To be safe, you can test at the Student Health Services at Temple University at a minimal cost.
That being said, this also means that if you have cavities, you can spread Streptococcus mutans, a bacteria that causes cavities, to them, and if they have cavities, they can spread the bacteria to you. Maintaining your oral health is not just for you but also for the person you are kissing.
My Rules for Dental Health
After getting a bunch of cavities when I was younger, I got really afraid of losing all of my teeth. Root canals are no joke, and dental implants aren’t either. I like to enjoy my food, so I want to keep my teeth the way they were until I’m old.
It was so bad that I began to panic and spiral into a research tunnel! But what’s crazy is that habits I implemented after actually worked!
So, after a lot of research and two cavity-free dental appointments yearly, I can confidently say that I have a couple of rules that I have for myself that you may want to adopt.
1. After you eat or drink anything, rinse your mouth with water.
Food and drink tend to be acidic, and the acidity is what damages your enamel, the surface layer of your teeth. This damage is permanent. Your mouth is best in a neutral to basic pH, not acidic. So, wash away the acidity and restore the pH of your mouth by rinsing your mouth and teeth with water. This is especially important if you just ate sugary foods. The bacteria in your mouth LOVE sugar. They grow and populate with the help of sugar after all. If you don’t want the bacteria to keep growing, I suggest rinsing your mouth with water, even if you like the flavor to linger in your mouth.
2. Brush your teeth at least 30 minutes after eating.
With food and drink being acidic, even after rinsing your mouth with water, your teeth are still weakened by the acidity, so you don’t want to be brushing your enamel away… like the saying goes, don’t beat them while they’re down.
3. Before you brush your teeth, floss, scrape your tongue, and rinse your mouth with water.
Flossing is super important. Floss removes a lot of bacteria that are stuck between your teeth, much more than you may or may not think, to the point that flossing is associated with improved cardiovascular health. So, I suggest you floss.
Scraping your tongue is also important because it also helps to get rid of the built up bacteria in your mouth.
I just rinse my mouth with water after flossing and scraping my tongue to ensure that there’s no left-over food and bacteria that I flossed out and scraped but didn’t spit out.
4. Don’t rinse your mouth with water after you brush your teeth.
After you brush your teeth and spit out the residual toothpaste, I suggest you not rinse your mouth. This is because the same idea from rinsing your mouth after eating applies. If you rinse your mouth after brushing, you are also rinsing away the active ingredient in the toothpaste, fluoride, which helps fight bacteria in your mouth. You likely want this ingredient to help you.
5. Gut health and nutrition are key. Ensure you get a sufficient amount of calcium and vitamin D.
Like I said before, your dental health is connected to your overall health, especially your gut health through the oral-gut axis. It goes both ways. So if your overall health isn’t that great, your dental health can also be affected.
Personally, I eat cereal with milk (Multi grain Cheerios and whole milk enriched with calcium) and bask in the sun for at least 15 minutes a day, as the body needs vitamin D to use calcium, which strengthens the enamel and prevents tooth decay and cavities.
Results
Okay, maybe it’s just me, but after adopting all these habits, I haven’t gotten a cavity since. Not only that, I also usually get sick every year, but since about 2023, after adopting these habits, I haven’t been sick! Small steps might not seem like much, but they can be life changing as the little things add up. Remember, after your baby teeth are gone, you only have one set of teeth.