Oral health and other diseases

Your mouth is the gateway to your body

Keeping the mouth healthy is crucial for maintaining general health and well-being. If not properly managed, oral diseases can negatively impact the rest of your body and affect every aspect of life, including personal relationships, self-confidence, as well as school and work attendance, and overall performance. A healthy mouth may also help in the prevention of other health conditions, such as heart and respiratory diseases, cancer and diabetes.

Oral health is about much more than healthy teeth and a good-looking smile. The mouth is a mirror of the body, often reflecting signs of other diseases. For example, oral lesions may be the first signs of HIV-infection, and changes in tooth appearance can indicate serious eating disorders.

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Wohd Infographic

1 World Health Organization. HIV/AIDS. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids [Accessed 27 October 2020].

2FDI World Dental Federation. The Challenge of Oral Disease – A call for global action. Oral Health Atlas. 2nd ed. Geneva: FDI World Dental Federation; 2015. Available from: https://www.fdiworlddental.org/resources/publications/oral-health-atlas… [Accessed 21 October 2020].

3World Health Organization. Noncommunicable diseases. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases [Accessed 13 May 2020].

4World Health Organization. Oral Health. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/oral-health [Accessed 21 October 2020].

5 D'Aiuto F, Gkranias N, Bhowruth D, Khan T, Orlandi M, Suvan J, et al. Systemic effects of periodontitis treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes: a 12 month, single-centre, investigator-masked, randomised trial. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2018;6(12): 954–965. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(18)30038-X.