Connection between Tongue and Overall Health

There can be bumps, patches and spots in your mouth. Most of the times, these patches and bumps are not harmful. However, sometimes they can be the sign of any health condition or infection in the body. The effects of medications, infections, stress and aging can be reflected from the tongue. Thus, it would be worth mentioning what your tongue can tell and that whether or not you need to see your dentist or doctor.

White patches

The existence of white patches on your tongue can be due to thrush or fungal infection. It usually happens when the effects of illness or medication are left there to give their display. If we elaborate this condition, it is mainly related to the response of immune system in order to deal with the effects of illness or medication. If the white patches are hard, thick and cannot be scrapped away, it can be a sign of leukoplakia. Leukoplakia is linked to cancer. You need to visit your dentist as soon as you see the white patches.

Hair on your tongue

Sometimes, your tongue might start developing a coating which looks like a layer of brown or black hairs. These hairs are basically developed due to protein turning normal bumps into long strands. These strands can be eliminated if you brush and scrap your tongue. However, the stands which are not cleared off may be a sign of hairy leukoplakia.

Black tongue

Hairy leukoplakia makes the tongue look black but it is not as dark as the black tongue. Black tongue is not a condition. The surface of the tongue can turn black due antacid. It happens when antacid mixes with saliva. Black tongue is nothing to worry about as it turns back to normal when you stop taking antacids.

Bright red tongue

The strawberry-red color of the tongue might be a sign of a disease which is most commonly known as Kawasaki disease. This disease mainly involves inflammation of blood vessels all over the body. The red and smooth tongue is also a sign of vitamin B3 deficiency.

Burning sensation

Sometimes, you might start feeling your tongue like it is scolded with hot coffee or something quite acidic. This can be a problem with the nerves of your tongue. It can also be an indication of several oral and overall health conditions. The best way to deal with this issue is to consult your dentist and get the problem sorted out.

Fissured tongue

Sometimes, your tongue might develop fissures on it. This condition of the tongue is linked to the health conditions such as Down syndrome, psoriasis, and Sjögren’s syndrome. Sometimes, there may not be any issue with your health and you may still get fissures on your tongue. These fissures are harmless but you need to be careful while brushing the tongue. You can consult your health physician to get the root cause treated in order to get rid of these fissures.

Healthy Teeth for Entire Life

Taking care of your dental health should not be just an individual act. You should make sure that everyone in your family takes care of their oral health. For this very purpose, you have to make sure that you are not taking the dental health of your children for granted. The adult members of your family are surely going to realize how important the dental care can be.

Take care of the dental health of your children

According to a survey, one in every four children gets a cavity before going to school. And half of the children at the age of 12 to 15 get cavities. So, the need of the hour is to make sure that you take care of your child’s dental health as soon as the first tooth erupts. It means that it would really be ideal to take your kid to the dental visit at the age of 6 months. Moreover, there are different ways to take care of the dental hygiene of your kids. You can discuss these options with your dentist.

Seal off the trouble

At the age of 6, children start getting molars in the back of their mouths. At this age, they may not be very good with their oral hygiene. Here, you can take a little preventive action to get their back teeth sealed with dental sealant. The molar usually have pits and fissures which cannot be cleaned with brushing or flossing. Thus, they can become breeding grounds for bacteria. Getting those teeth sealed can prevent any accumulation of bacteria in those grooves.

Get enough fluoride but don’t get it excessively

While there is no doubt about the fact that fluoride is very important if you want to keep your teeth strong and healthy, getting too much of it can actually turn out to be dangerous for teeth. There is a condition called fluorosis and it happens only when you get fluoride in an amount beyond what is recommended. This condition can cause staining and discoloration of teeth.

Don’t skip brushing and flossing

If you want to maintain the best of your oral health, you have to make sure that you brush and floss your teeth as recommended. The best way is to brush the teeth twice and floss at least once on daily basis. Make sure that you are using right technique to brush your teeth. The bristles of toothbrush should be soft and you also need to avoid abrasive brushing of your teeth. A toothbrush or its head needs to be replaced after every 3 – 4 months.

Quit smoking

One of the habits which are proven to be deadly for oral and overall health is smoking. You need to make sure that you do not chew tobacco or smoke because it can cause serious damage to your teeth and oral health. It can even lead to oral cancer.

Eating habits

Your oral health also depends upon what you eat. Healthy foods have healthy effects on your teeth, gums and oral cavity. Make sure that you are eating the foods which help in protecting your teeth and gums.

5 Essential Preventative Dental Treatments

Proper oral hygiene is key to good oral health. Preventative dental treatment comprises of various procedures which may involve treatment instructions and practices that are helpful in keeping your oral hygiene maintain. Dental care is important for healthy teeth and impressing smile. Preventative care is a bit tough but essential part of oral hygiene. The treatment is for cavities, enamel care and gum diseases like gingivitis.

Preventative Treatments.

Oral Examination.

Make this habit to visit dentist often. When you visit your dentist, the oral examination is the first thing that would likely to be happen. It is the most part of dental treatment. The dentist will examine the teeth comprehensively. The detailed examination is important to identify any type of the dental disease like oral cancer. For cancer the dentist will examine your lips, neck, face, throat, teeth, gums and tissues. These shows the best possible evidences for cancer.

Radiograph or X-RAYs. In case of tumor or any cyst in mouth or near gums x-rays are important. I will detect the tooth decay and bone loss if any. X-rays are important for tooth surgeries it will identify the issues in teeth roots and tooth location.

Gum diseases. Oral examination is important for identifying the gum diseases and bones problems. Dentist will check the gums and bones in mouth to identify the gums disease and bone loss.

Checking up current restorations of the teeth: If you had any type of prior treatment like tooth fillings, crowns, or implants, the dentist will check their condition for possible defects.

Dental Cleaning.

Dental cleaning is an essential part of preventative dental treatments. Cleaning your teeth includes:

Removal of plaque. Removal of plaque from the teeth are necessary thing to do. It is in the form of light yellow or pale color. It is toxic to the oral hygiene. Plaque contains bacteria which is harmful for teeth. It is made up of food particles left behind after eating and saliva. This usually cause inflammation to the gums. Plaque is also a reason behind cavities. So, removal of plaque is necessary to prevent your teeth from bacteria.
Removal of tartar. Tartar is also an unavoidable dental problem. It usually cannot be removed by yourself. You will have to visit dentist for the removal of tartar. It creates a layer over gums and it could only be removed by dental treatment.
Polishing of teeth. Polishing is the dental treatment which helps the teeth to shine. You will get rid of all the stains and plaque over the teeth. Your teeth will become white and clean.

Dental sealant.

Dental sealant is a thin and transparent sheet which is already placed on the teeth. It usually presents on the last teeth which are helpful in chewing food. This layer prevents your teeth from bacteria and disease. This sealant shields your teeth from tooth cavity and tooth decay. You can apply this sealant from your dentist. Only thirty minutes are required to place this dental sealant. While placing this all the dirt, bacteria and stains will remove off from the teeth. Laser treatment that ultraviolet rays are used for placing sealant so it is painless treatment. First dentist will clean your teeth thoroughly it will remove all the statin with air abrasion. When the teeth surface gets dry, sealant will be placed on the grooves. It will give your teeth maximum protection. Dentist will pass the final inspection for proper checkup of the placement of dental sealant.

Home Care Knowledge.

Home care information important for dental care. Your dentist will advise you all procedures and prevention during treatment that will be necessary for oral hygiene and health.

Treatment through fluoride.

The most economical treatment is fluoride treatment. It will maintain your oral health and prevent your teeth from bacteria, cavity and tooth decay.

Whiplash

Whiplash is a general term that is used for neck injury. In whiplash, injury is caused due to jerk beyond its normal range of motion. These types of injuries occur usually during car accidents, the collisions of the cars. Formally when this type of accident happens, the passenger’s head severely jerks in backward position and the rest of the body moves forward forcefully. This backward and forward motion of your head badly damages neck muscles and soft tissues that support the head, neck and jaws. All this sudden happens to you can change your life in a snap. Extension- flexion injury is a term used for this injury.

To understand the fact of Whiplash you should know that the weight of human head is fifteen pounds which is equal to the weight of bowling ball. When a jolt attacks to your bowling ball (head), the 500-600 pounds of force strike on your neck and it cause damage to your muscles and nerves. One more thing is that women have small and vulnerable neck muscles so the damage towards women are high in ratio. This is how whiplash damages your jaw, neck and head muscles and nerves in both male and female.

the obvious thing is you first go with X-RAY for the identification of injuries but unluckily the small injuries occur during the accident do not appear on X-RAYs. So, at this point it is hard to determine the full damage. In order to identify the whiplash injury, you should examine these following symptoms that they may arise or.

Pain and stiffness in neck.
Decreased range of motion in neck.
Headache.
Numbness of the head and face.
Blurry vision.
Pain behind the eyes.
Problem to balance your body and head.
Difficulty in swallowing.
Ringing sound in the ears.
Sever pain in jaw.
Difficulty in chewing food.

These are not clear symptoms that you are able to determine them at the time of accident. They can appear after months even but once they appear they are very painful and constant.

WHIPLASH and TMJ

Vertebrae are composed of small seven bones which supports head and this is called cervical spine. Discs are there between the vertebrae which are usually called pads of cartilage. These discs are used for shock absorbing during spinal movement. Disc usually performs the function of cushions. To maintain the balance of the head at the top of the spine multiple muscles of neck, jaw, back and shoulders are involved. When this type of unfortunate incident happens, the neck is force to move beyond its normal force and the muscles may damage, stretch and tear. All the muscles which are inter related that are jaw muscles, neck muscles, neck muscles and back muscles are affected by this whiplash. This could be a worse condition for you to recover from this pain.

Some important points that would show you damage to your jaw muscles.

Feeling of pain in or around the jaws.
Clicking and bursting of the jaw joints.
Difficulty in opening of mouth.
Difficulty in chewing and bringing teeth together.

Treatment for Whiplash.

At the time of accident, it is hard to identify whiplash or TMJ. So, many often this injury would be ignored at the first stage of treatment. The treatment for this injury is being denied by many insurance companies unfortunately this is true. The treatment of whiplash is very important for the patient’s health. If it would have ignored or not recognized then it will become sever health issue. But in case the whiplash is recognized as soon after the accident and the treatment of whiplash begins as soon as possible then it is beneficial for patient’s health and wealth. At this point many insurance companies offer the whiplash treatment with in the 90 days of injury.

Necessary treatments for whiplash may include:

Orthopedic treatment.
Physical therapy.
Chiropractic treatment.
Evaluation by a dentist. A specialist who is trained in TMJ/Facial Pain.
He/she may recommend some or all of the following treatments:
Trigger point injections.
Orthotic appliance.
Proper Medication.
Particular TMJ exercises.

The earlier it suspected, easier to treat. So, consult the good health care service or any specialist at the time of accident. It will easier to treat whiplash at the earlier stage.

Ear Symptoms and TMJ

I can say that the ears are astonishing organ. It is one of the five primary sense organs. This organ helps you to connect with the surrounding and the world. It is like a bridge between you and the world. As animal’s ears are different in size. With the different range of size, the ears would be elephant’s size or the mice’s size. But the function is same. Most of the people don’t take care of their ears unless something goes wrong with them. When this happens to your ears the result may be very painful and irritating. it may cause pain, irritation, pressure and ringing sounds in your ear. These symptoms can cause minor to severe problems to your ear and you must rush to ENT specialist while these symptoms.

These symptoms of ear could also have association with TMJ pathology. It is an interesting fact that these symptoms have a connection with TMJ also. The relationship between the jaw and ear closely connected. It may surprise some people but some already know about this fact. For example, if you are facing any problem with the bite or under jaw muscle it will directly affect your ear.

There is a deep connection between dental cause and ear problem. If you are having toothache then you can feel a deep pain in only one ear and sometimes this is an unbearable pain. This pain can also travel from your jaw area to your throat and even back of the head. At this time your jaw movement can be very painful. There is different type of pain related to ear which could be the symptoms of TMJ. This shows a bona fide relation between jaw and ear problem.

Some common symptoms that would indicate the TMJ problem are here:

Pain in any ear.
Pressure in ear.
Feeling of fullness.
Ringing sounds in ears.
Shifting of Jaw right and left while opening wide.
Soreness of muscles.
Feeling of tenderness in jaw joints.
Some noises in jaw joints.

Connection between ear and jaw bone.

There is an enchanting connection between ear and jaw bone. Especially because of the anatomical structure they both have. These two have developing embryo. As with the time the embryo continues to grow, they ultimately separate out from each other and form individual entities. Here anatomy plays a vital role to understand the better idea of the connection between ear and jaw. The fact is that ear contains the smallest bones in the whole body, which are all uniquely in shape. The shape is like hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), and stirrup (stapes). The motion of the hammer is controlled by the muscle tensor tympani. This muscle is to help the controlling of vibrations of the eardrum and protects the inner ear from outer loud sounds. One other important muscle of the ear is the tensor palatini, which is used to controls the eustachian tube opening and closing. It is because the ears and jaw are so closely associated in embryonic development. the same nerve controls the tensor tympani and tensor palatini also controls the muscles that allow us chewing the meal. Since the muscles of the jaw and ear share the same nerve supply so, the problem is one can affect the other. Even the location of the ear and jaw is common due to this nerve. The jaw is attached to the skull by two joints right in front of the ear. There is a thin part of skull that separates the jaw joints from ear canals. This clearly indicates now that any TMJ(ear) problem could reflect jaw problem.

Effect of Bad Bite to the Ears
An unusual bite (occlusion) could potentially contribute to muscle and joint pain of the TMJ(ear). The teeth often caught into swallowing for about 2,500 times each day and night. Note it down when there is an abnormal bite. With the longer run, if this problem remains untreated, the muscle could possibly cause spasm and jaw joints to be pulled out of alignment. If you face any of these symptoms, it is highly recommended to see a trained dentist who is qualified to diagnose and treat TMJ disorders.