Good oral health can be your pride and joy, especially when you maintain a bright, healthy smile. It can go beyond the point of just aesthetics, however, because it can affect your fertility. Read on to see five ways in which maintaining good oral health can be beneficial to your fertility and see why it’s important to keep it in a great state.
1. Oral Bacterial Infection Can Spread to the Unborn Child
It has been proven that when you have an oral infection caused by bacteria, these bacteria can spread throughout your body and end up reaching the baby in the womb. This makes it important to take as much care of your oral state when you get pregnant as you would in your home and closet. With 57% of women believing that a well-organized closet enables them to find what they need faster and more easily, it’s clear that organization is also an important aspect of many women’s lives. While this may come about after conception, it can still cause issues with the pregnancy and its success.
2. Bacteria in the Mouth Can Cause Bacteriospermia
For males, it’s also important to maintain good oral health and have any infections treated as soon as they start. This is because gum disease, cavities, and tooth decay can all lead to an increase of bacteria in the body, leading to bacteriospermia. This is a condition that leaves a high amount of bacteria in the sperm and therefore negatively affects its overall quality, impacting its ability to complete a successful conception. Having a lot of bacteria in the body can also lead to inflammation and cause the body’s immune system to attack healthy cells, including sperm. This effectively lowers the count even more and so it becomes a serious cause of infertility over time.
3. Poor Dental Health Can Negatively Affect Sperm Count
As mentioned, having oral infections can cause low sperm count, which will, in turn, cause some degree of infertility. This is because the available sperm won’t be as healthy as it needs to be in order for it to complete conception. To remedy this, it’s important to take good care of your oral health as a man and have any issues that may come up checked out immediately. Take the medication prescribed to you the right way and you will improve your sperm count, remedying potential infertility that may be plaguing you. Since one out of every three orthodontic patients is an adult, you need not hesitate to seek the right treatment for oral issues that you may have. Doing this can have a far-reaching positive impact as outlined above.
4. Periodontal Disease Decreases the Ability of a Woman to Conceive
Finally, for women, having a lot of bacteria in the system is also bad news. It has been found to triple the risk of infertility in women, making it harder for them to conceive. If they do manage to conceive under these circumstances, they will be exposing the developing baby to potential future issues including diabetes and low birth weight. With between 1% and 2% of all births in the United States annually being through IVF, according to Penn Medicine, it’s important to eliminate all possible causes of infertility when you can. The easiest remedy may be changing your daily habits and ensuring that your physical, oral, and mental health are all in the best state possible.
Based on these four ways in which oral health can affect one’s fertility, it’s clear that you should not ignore it, especially when you’re trying to conceive. Get into good oral health habits early and keep up with them through different periods of your life and you will enjoy the rewards over the long term.