A healthy smile does more than just increase your social life. It can mean the difference between living a healthy, happy life and having more illnesses than you can count on your fingers and toes.

To better understand how your smile influences your health, let’s take a look at the link between oral health and your overall physical and mental wellbeing.

The Link Between Mouth and Mind

It’s no secret that people who have a beautiful smile are the ones whom also tend to smile the most. What you may find interesting is that these types of people are also the ones who live the longest.

But the question still stands: Why are they healthier? The answer lies in what their smiles ward away. There is a lower incidence of depression, eating disorders and social anxiety among people who smile more than those who don’t.

They express their feelings outwardly, and they tend to receive the benefits of less stress with the various hormones that flood the body when they smile.

The lower incidence of stress that people who smile encounter allows their bodies to better fight off disease and to heal faster. They’re also more active and less fearful about their perceived image, which means that they’re more likely to exercise and to conduct other activities beneficial to their health.

Understanding How Smiling Affects Your Health

The interesting thing about a proper oral health is that it doesn’t just enable you to experience less stress. It can actually ward off potential disease.

With strong teeth and a healthy gums you can be more confident in your saliva production. Saliva acts as a natural sanitizer within the mouth as well as a protector of enamel and preventer of tooth decay. It breaks down food particles and stops many of the germs that would otherwise enter your body when you eat.

A healthy mouth that isn’t busy fighting bacteria, such as the kind that clings to your teeth, has all the ability it needs to rid you of things that may potentially make you sick by entering your mouth. This makes you less susceptible to infection by airborne germs and viruses.

There is even a link between kidney disease and oral hygiene that professionals in the medical field are currently investigating. They postulate that good oral hygiene may prevent bacteria from entering the body and damaging the kidneys.

Keeping Your Oral Health Pristine

The only way you can obtain the benefits of a healthy mouth listed here is to practice good oral hygiene and to regularly see your Brantford Mall Dental Office dentist.

What you can’t prevent at home by brushing, flossing and rinsing with mouthwash can be addressed by these professionals.

The best part about keeping your oral health pristine is that you’ll be able to smile while being healthy of body and mind. That should be reason enough to do stay on top of your oral health.