{"id":538,"date":"2016-10-01T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2016-10-01T09:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/?p=538"},"modified":"2016-09-20T20:03:33","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T20:03:33","slug":"5-steps-healthy-mouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/5-steps-healthy-mouth\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps to a Healthy Mouth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-540\" src=\"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/teeth.jpg\" alt=\"teeth\" width=\"325\" height=\"321\" srcset=\"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/teeth.jpg 450w, http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/teeth-300x297.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/>Most of us realize that diet and exercise play an important part in keeping us healthy. But did you know that a healthy mouth is also an important part of a healthy body?<\/p>\n<p>Poor oral health can affect a person&rsquo;s quality of life. Oral pain, missing teeth or oral infections can influence the way a person speaks, eats and socializes. These oral health problems can reduce a person&rsquo;s quality of life by affecting their physical, mental and social well-being.<\/p>\n<p>Oral disease, like any other disease, needs to be treated. A chronic infection, including one in the mouth, is a serious problem that should not be ignored. Yet bleeding or tender gums are often overlooked.<\/p>\n<p>Research has shown there is an association between oral disease and other health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, respiratory illness in older adults, as well as pre-term and low-birth-weight babies. Although researchers are just beginning to understand this relationship, evidence shows that oral disease can aggravate other health problems and that keeping a healthy mouth is an important part of leading a healthy life.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Keep your mouth clean<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Use a soft-bristle toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste.<\/li>\n<li>Wait at least 20\u201330 minutes after eating before brushing your teeth.<\/li>\n<li>Floss every day.<\/li>\n<li>Eat a well-balanced diet.<\/li>\n<li>Limit foods and beverages containing sugar or carbohydrates.<\/li>\n<li>Ideal snack foods: cheese, nuts, vegetables, and non-acidic fruits.<\/li>\n<li>Look for oral care products with the Canadian Dental Association (CDA)\u00a0Seal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>2. Check your mouth regularly<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Look for signs of gum disease:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Red, shiny, puffy, sore or sensitive gums<\/li>\n<li>Bleeding when you brush or floss<\/li>\n<li>Bad breath that won&rsquo;t go away<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Look for signs of oral cancer:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bleeding or open sores that don&rsquo;t heal<\/li>\n<li>White or red patches<\/li>\n<li>Numbness or tingling<\/li>\n<li>Small lumps and thickening on the sides or bottom of your tongue, the floor or roof of your mouth, the inside of your cheeks, or on your gums<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>3. Eat well<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Good nutrition helps build strong teeth and gums.<\/li>\n<li>Munch on mouth-healthy snacks like cheeses, nuts, vegetables, and non-acidic fruits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>4. See your dentist regularly<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>48% of Canadians who haven&rsquo;t seen a dentist in the past year have gum disease. Regular dental exams and professional cleanings are the best way to prevent and detect problems before they get worse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>5. Don&rsquo;t smoke or chew tobacco<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Smoking and chewing tobacco can cause oral cancer, heart disease, gum disease, and a variety of other cancers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Source: Canadian Dental Association<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of us realize that diet and exercise play an important part in keeping us healthy. But did you know that a healthy mouth is also an important part of a healthy body? Poor oral health can affect a person&rsquo;s quality of life. Oral pain, missing teeth or oral infections can influence the way a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dental-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":542,"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions\/542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/quali-dent.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}