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One of my patients, Joan was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). She suffered excruciating stomach pains that sent her to the emergency room. What Joan and her doctor didn't realize was that her IBS symptoms were triggered by problems stemming from her mouth. Most of Joan's back teeth were missing.
Consequently, Joan was unable to chew her food properly; this did not cause, but exacerbated her IBS troubles.
Another patient, Mike suffered from a loss of his sense of balance for years. He also had tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Doctors were unable to find the cause of his problems. Had Mike seen a dentist, he would have learned that his symptoms were typical of temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD); a disorder that could have readily been cleared.
Randy came to see me for a routine dental visit. He had been on and off painkillers for months trying to deal with chronic sinus headaches. His physician found no sinus infection present. Yet the pain persisted.
If Randy's doctor had sent him to a dentist, the source of the pain could have been located: a tooth needed to be pulled, which was an upper back tooth (molar) positioned very close to the sinus area. The dentist might have saved Randy's tooth along with his pain, but he had waited too long to seek proper treatment.
John was in his early 50s and was recently diagnosed with arteriosclerosis (hardened arteries). Lucky for him, his cardiologist sent him to the dentist for a check-up. The cardiologist knew the relationship between heart disease and gum disease (periodontal disease). When I examined him, sure enough, John had advanced gum disease. He was a heart attack waiting to happen.
Now that he knows the connection and is staying on top of his mouth health, John's heart attack risk has been minimized.
Bird's Eye View into Your Body
None of the people in the cases described above considered the fact their mouths could be the cause of their maladies. What would you think if I told you every single person has the ability to look inside his or her body and get a bird's eye view towards what state of health he or she is in?
You see, your mouth is really a microcosm of your whole body. It's like getting a glimpse of the total picture of health or illness.
Risk of heart disease, stroke, lack of energy, even problem pregnancies is now linked to oral health.
Taking responsibility for your health is more crucial than ever. Start by taking better care of your mouth, which is the entrance to your body, and the secret gateway to health.Â
As far as I'm concerned, it is also the most important thing you need to know for a long healthy life.
If you are nearing, or have arrived at middle age, it's important that you visit your doctor at least once a year for a general physical. When you're younger you can generally get away with not seeing the doctor because you have youth on your side, but as you grow older you become more susceptible to diseases, such as cancer. Having a yearly physical once a year betters your chances of surviving a cancer diagnosis because it gives your doctor a chance to catch it in its early stages and cure it before it overruns your body.
But safeguarding against disease does not start and stop one day a year when you see the doctor. Monitoring your health requires you to live a healthy lifestyle, and living a healthy lifestyle means that you must focus on a few aspects in your life. To begin, ask yourself the following questions:
Is your body in shape?
Do you eat healthy?
How do you know if the answers to these questions are yes? Simple. To answer the first question, walk up a flight of stairs. If you are out of breath when you get to the top then you are out of shape.
Answering the second question requires you to truly be honest with yourself. If your breakfast consists of a bagel and orange juice, and your lunch consists of a double bacon heart clogger from the hamburger joint, then the answer is no, especially if this is your diet more than twice a week.
To be able to answer these questions with a “yes” you need to change your lifestyle. Instead of coming home from work and lying on the couch with a beer, spend 30 minutes on the treadmill, which is a great form of cardiovascular exercise. Do this three to four times a week. Secondly, don't eat fast food or any kind of restaurant food more than once a week if you can help it, but it would be even better if you restrained yourself to eating out only twice a month.
This is your wake up call. If what has been described is similar to your lifestyle then you need to make a change. You can't continue to live like this and expect to live a long and healthy life. It's time to start seeing the doctor once a year, begin working out a few times a week, and raising the health bar on your diet by including fresh vegetables and fruits.
It's imperative that in middle age you follow the guideline written here. They are the key to a long, healthy and prosperous life. If you have a doctor then make an appointment, don't delay. If you don't have a doctor, then get one.