If like me you’re always trying out the new ‘super food’ or health craze, it’s usually in a bid to reduce the muffin top and to find that elusive extra energy (just where do other people find it?!). But we rarely stop to think about the area of our body that actually chews and swallows this food as an area that needs to be kept healthy. We are used to thinking about our teeth but what about the rest of our mouths?
Ahead of The British Dental Health Foundation’s Mouth Cancer Action Month in November I thought I’d take a look at how I can actively keep my mouth healthy.
1. Visit your dentist regularly, as often as they recommend, even if you wear dentures. Dentists can often see things that you can’t and will carry out a 10 point mouth cancer screening at your appointment.
2. Be vigilant when brushing your teeth and look for changes such as red or white patches and ulcers that don’t clear up within three weeks. Tell your dentist if you are worried about anything.
3. Don’t forget your lips! When out in the sunshine make sure you protect them with sun cream or an SPF lip balm. Even in September!
4. The things you eat can benefit your mouth too, not just your tummy! A good diet rich in vitamins A, C and E provides protection against the development of mouth cancer. The British Dental Health Foundation recommends that ‘plenty of fruit and vegetables help the body protect itself, in general, from most cancers’.
5. Cut down on smoking and drinking. Again, we are well versed in the effects of these two on the rest of the body, but often it is in the mouth that, especially when taken together, they become a deadly concoction.
Here at Blyton Dental we offer a mouth cancer screening for FREE at all dental appointments. Call 01427 628999 today to make an appointment if you are worried about anything.
Jackie Stockdale
Practice Manager, Blyton Dental, Gainsborough
Sources:
http://www.mouthcancer.org/what-is-mouth-cancer/
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/type/mouth-cancer/about/symptoms-of-mouth-cancer
http://www.mouthcancerfoundation.org/?gclid=CJ3Pou2-kc8CFUko0wodKfoEWQ