If You’re Sick All the Time Visit the Dentist in Addition to Your Doctor

Many people don’t understand the importance of visiting the dentist on a regular basis.  We know that by providing preventative care in the form of regular teeth cleanings, we can prevent cavities and gum disease.  When something does develop, we can treat it right away so that our patients can stay healthy and pain-free.  The challenge is that for some people, visiting the dentist is an afterthought, leaving them to go years in between visits.  This can be bad for your overall health.
If you haven’t seen a dentist in a while, and are getting sick constantly, it may be due to an oral infection.  When your tooth becomes infected, or you get gum disease, it is a full blown infection just like an infection in the rest of your body.  Not only will it cause pain but you may suffer from other symptoms as well like a fever and chills in addition to not feeling well in general.  If you visit a doctor and they prescribe antibiotics, it may help temporarily but the condition will keep coming back until you have removed the infection from your mouth.
If you are repeatedly sick and the doctor doesn’t know why, schedule a dental exam.   As a dentist, we can inspect your teeth and gums to see if they are infected at all and make a treatment recommendation for how to address the problem if they are.  This may be a simple solution to your health problems.
The type of infection will determine the treatment.  For example, if the center of your tooth is infected, we will likely perform a root canal to remove the infected area.  We will remove the roots at the same time to make sure that the infection doesn’t spread into your jawbone.  When the procedure is done we will complete a filling then place a dental crown around the tooth in order to protect it.  This is a comprehensive treatment that will leave your tooth feeling much better.  We may prescribe antibiotics to go along with the root canal if we feel this is necessary for killing any lingering infection.
If you have gum disease, the only way to treat it is to start by removing the bacteria that is causing the infection in the first place.  As a dentist, we will complete a deep cleaning where the bacteria are removed from underneath your gums so that they can start to heal themselves.  If the gum disease has spread, and the gums have receded, we may need to perform a gum graft as well.  This will close up any pockets you have in the gum tissue so that the roots are no longer exposed.
These are two of the main types of infections that could be making you sick. Don’t go undiagnosed when there is a simple solution to your illness.  Visit a dentist right away so that we can examine and clean your teeth, and you can start to feel healthy again.

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