"Smile while you still have teeth" - an adage we come across way too often.
Let us straighten this once and for all-a white pearly smile is always not just about those white teeth that you see. These pearls are supported unconditionally by small yet significant pink parts called Gums. Care of these gums is not child's play. Those people who see these pink areas bleeding incessantly even on the gentlest brushing every morning will know what I am talking about. This bleeding condition of gums is called as gingivitis.
If ignored, it can further lead to a condition called periodontitis where the very foundation of the tooth becomes diseased. The tooth becomes loose; there is an ugly exposure of the tooth and soon the ugly possibility of the tooth popping out in its entirety!
It is just not about the appearance-imagine your teeth planning their own gala movements in their sockets while you are just getting started on your peristaltic movements! This weakened support invites various harmful bacteria to enter through your mouth into the bone below down into your blood because bacteria are just looking for an easy way to enter your body and make you sick.
This passage becomes way more welcoming to this unfriendly bacteria when the person's immunity is low. The immunity can be low due to various diseases that the person might be suffering from Diabetes, AIDS; persons on immunosuppression drugs or physiologic states like pregnancy.
It might sound bizarre but the sixth most important complication of Diabetes is Periodontitis! To paint a clear picture-diet restrictions, regular exercise regime coupled with frequent rants about how difficult it is to chew all those foods that you do not even like! The bacteria once in the blood can enter many other important organs in your body like the heart and cause diseases like infective endocarsitis-which you definitely do not want.
Apart from all these, there are a significant group of people who are ignored in this category of diseases associated with Periodintitis.