Oral hygiene practices to minimize the spread of disease
By Dr. Karishma Jaradi
It is a non-arguable fact that following a simple yet effective oral hygiene at home is just as essential as washing your hands on a regular basis. In the pursuit keeping infections and contagions at bay, we often tend to stay focussed on cleaning and sanitizing our body but almost neglect upholding our oral health. It is crucial to comprehend that oral health is closely intertwined with our overall health and your mouth has a great possibility to become an entry point for bacteria. By practising good dental care within the confines of your abodes, will not only facilitate in keeping our pearly whites in the best of health but will also help in mitigating the spread of harmful disease.
In our relentless scuffle against transferable disease, the ‘enemy’ is often too close and in proximity to us but we are unable to notice the same. Below are simple oral hygiene tips which will minimalize your chance of falling trap to the virus.
Properly washing your toothbrush before usage: It’s a little unsettling, but the tool that you make use of twice a day to clean your mouth of microbes might essentially serve as home for perilous bacteria. This is owing to the fact that some of the germs that are eliminated from your mouth while you brush might get accumulated on your toothbrush even post rinsing it off with water. Bacteria and viruses that can be contributors to infections like colds and the flu may make their home on your toothbrush, which is it is advisable to sanitize your brush once a week as a safeguard. This can be accomplished by washing your brushes under hot water effectively for about thirty seconds prior to using them. Disinfecting toothbrushes is exceptional safety measure that can help in condensing the likelihood of your toothbrush becoming a contact point for a virus.
Germs can be transmitted through saliva: There is a great possibility of infections spreading through saliva and hence it is recommended to destroy the bacteria, the moment it reaches your mouth. This can be done through proper gargling by using antimicrobial and antiseptic mouthwashes which help in decreasing the viral content of saliva, hence should be used every day. High bacteria levels that have their origin from the mouth have been associated to amplified rates of cardiovascular ailments and lung disease, both of which have a possibility of leaving you more susceptible to being majorly affected by a communicable virus. A healthy mouth is an inexpensive and easy solution to lessen the overall bacteria load on your body, thus charging your immune system to effectively combat an infection or virus that penetrates the bloodstream.
Never let minor dental issues go unnoticed: Small oral ailments that you might consider to be unimportant to be addressed can prove to become all the more complex if left untreated. Issues like dental cavities, gum ailments, tooth pains or even tooth decay must never be neglected and it is always good to get it checked by your skilled dental exert before it hampers your overall health.
By upholding overall hygiene and sanitization we can surely draw a safety net to guard us from falling trap to virus and infections.