2024 Dental Health Week | Busting ORAL HEALTH MYTHS!

There’s a lot of misinformation around the best ways to keep your mouth healthy.

For Dental Health Week (August 5-11), the Australian Dental Association (ADA) wants people to be aware of the very close link between what happens in the mouth and its knock-on effect on the rest of the body.

Here are a few common mouth myths the ADA often hears about set straight on the right things to do so your mouth and whole body will thank you.

Myth #1: what goes on in my mouth won’t affect the rest of my body.

Truth: Dental researchers have found mountains of evidence to show how oral health affects the rest of your body, particularly in relation to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, stroke, asthma and low birthweight babies where gum disease is not only a risk factor for these conditions, but also a factor in causing these conditions.

For example, research has shown that people with untreated gum disease (also known as periodontitis) have a 2.5 times increased risk of having a heart attack compared to the same group of people without untreated gum disease.

Myth #2: It doesn’t matter what toothpaste you use, so long as you brush.

Truth: There’s a whole industry of wellness products filling supermarket shelves – but without fluoride, the toothpaste may not provide optimum protection. There’s a very large body of evidence showing that fluoride toothpastes prevent more tooth decay than non-fluoride toothpastes.

It’s in our water too and Australian studies show this reduces tooth decay in children by 26% to 44%, and 27% in adults. Tooth decay is a largely preventable disease, and the addition of fluoride to 89% of Australian water is a substantial help in preventing decay.