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Connection between Diabetes and Oral Health

Diabetes primarily affects the glucose levels in the body. In case you have type 1 diabetes, there is going to be lack of insulin production in your body. Insulin is highly important because it carries sugar to the body cells. If you have type 2 diabetes, your body is not going to react to the insulin in your body. In either case, you are going to have your oral health impacted.

Impact of diabetes on oral health

There are a number of ways diabetes can affect your oral health. The first thing to talk about is the mouth dryness. When you have diabetes, there is going to be not enough production of saliva in your mouth. We all know how helpful the saliva can be in washing away the food debris and bacterial plaque. If food particles and plaque are not properly washed away, they can initiate the process of tooth decay which can progress to cause cavities.

Diabetes slows down the healing system of the body. It means that any infection in the gum can lead to gum disease if you have diabetes. The best way is to avoid getting exposed to the risk of gum disease by taking care of your oral hygiene and ensuring better preventive dental care.

Connection between gum disease and diabetes

The major risk faced by people having diabetes is the gum disease. Now, this gum disease can be mild, which is called gingivitis, and it can be the severe one, which is known as periodontitis. According to a survey, you are four times more susceptible to having gum disease if you have diabetes.

This is primarily due to the uncontrolled blood sugar levels. The matter of fact is that the connection between gum disease and diabetes can go in both ways, i.e. the diabetic problem may arise if you have gum disease and gum disease can occur if you have diabetes. Since there is going to be poor blood flow in the gums, the gum tissues will not be able to heal properly after getting attacked by bacteria.

Since the deterioration process gets accelerated when there is a case of diabetes, the gum infection can turn into periodontitis, leading to the tooth loss in relatively lesser time. However, you can stop the progress of this deterioration by seeking dental care on immediate basis.

How can diabetic people take care of their oral health?

If you have the problem of diabetes, you need to let your dentist know about the problem as soon as you know about the problem. This way, your dentist is going to take care of your dental health by taking into consideration the fact that you have diabetes. Furthermore, you cannot afford to be careless about your oral hygiene in this situation. Make sure that you are brushing and flossing your teeth on daily basis.

Helping Your Baby with the Teething Process

Teething process starts at the age of 6 to 7 months. Since every child is different, the parents with sufficient knowledge might find themselves wondering about how to deal with the teething process in order to help their child. Nevertheless, there are some basic things that you need to know if you want to deal with the teething process of your child without getting panicked.

Some common signs of teething

Since teething is a painful process, the symptoms and signs of teething are commonly related to the pain and discomfort. However, there may be many children who do not get any pain due to teething. The signs of teething in such children may just be related to the change in the shape of gums due to eruption of teeth.

The common signs of teething may include:

  • Swelling in the gums
  • Rise in body temperature
  • Fussiness
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Drooling
  • Change in the eating patterns
  • Gnawing
  • Change in the shape of gums due to eruption of teeth

Elusive signs of teething

Along with the obvious signs of teething, there may be some signs which could be subtler. Many people mistake those signs with the illnesses and other disorders such as cold and flu. Those symptoms may include:

  • Diarrhea
  • Rash on the face
  • Blood blisters on the gums
  • Swelling in the lymph nodes

When your baby is teething, more saliva is produced in the mouth. As a result, the baby drools. This drooling results in rashes on the face. When excess is swallowed, it can cause diarrhea. Swelling in the lymph nodes is usually a reaction of teething in this scenario. When teeth erupt, they result in blood blisters in the mouth. The blood blisters may seem alarming but they are not to be worried about.

Relieving the teething pain

While teething is a normal process, its painfulness doesn’t only cause irritation to the teething baby but also makes the parents quite worried about the situation. In this scenario, there are some tips that you can consider in order to ease the teething pain in your baby.

  • Massage the gums of your baby. You can do this massage in a gentle way. This practice is going to ease the pain.
  • The teething babies like to bite on anything they can hold. In this situation, you can give your child a chilled teething ring. The chilled ring is going to numb the area and provide pain relief.
  • Chilled drinks and foods can also be very helpful as they do the same job that of the teething ring.
  • Distraction can be the best trick to make the baby forget about the pain. So, you can either bring your child a new toy or take him/her to the nearby park.

In the end, it could be quite helpful to visit the dentist. You can take your baby to the dentist to get his/her oral cavity checked. This way, the dentist will be able to suggest good solution to the issue.