How High Blood Sugar Affects Your Teeth and Gums

Checking your blood sugar is something that’s absolutely mandatory for staying healthy. It’s a bigger deal for your whole body than you might think. Have high blood sugar? Then your doctor has given you the lowdown on what could go wrong, like getting tired easily, brain issues, or heart problems. But many people don’t get that high sugar can affect your teeth and gums too. Let’s learn how high blood sugar affects your teeth and gums.

High Blood Sugar and Teeth Troubles: What’s the Link?

Diabetics and anyone else who struggles to keep their blood sugar down might have weakened immune systems and inflammation in various areas of the body. When one’s blood sugar is high, the risk for all kinds of infections goes up. This includes infected gums.

Gingivitis

Let’s consider gingivitis. The bacteria in your mouth love it when your blood sugar is high. Mix that sweet, high blood sugar with your saliva, and you have the perfect conditions for plaque to build up. If you don’t do anything about it, that gunk on your teeth turns hard and you get tartar. Tartar’s a problem for the soft tissue around your teeth. If you just ignore it, you can end up with periodontitis, an infection that can cause your teeth to fall out.

Tooth Decay

High blood sugar doesn’t just threaten your gums; it can also wreak havoc on your teeth. As your blood glucose spikes, your mouth turns into a friendly environment for germs. These little critters feast on sugars and produce acids that can chew up your tooth’s hard shell and lead to cavities or some bad tooth infections.

Dry Mouth

Another unpleasant side effect of high blood sugar is dry mouth. Saliva has a few crucial jobs. It helps you digest food. It also cleans your mouth and controls acids that bacteria carry. When there’s a shortage of saliva, your mouth’s guard is down, and your teeth are more vulnerable. When your mouth is too dry, you’re likely to get cavities, gum disease, and even fungal infections. Not to mention dry mouth is very uncomfortable. It disrupts your eating, talking, and can even cause bad breath.

Slows Healing

High blood sugar hurts your mouth’s healing abilities. This means you don’t have strong defenses when you’re hurt, catch a bug, or get dental work done. Sugar in your blood hampers blood flow and makes it hard for your body to recover.

Thrush

Thrush, caused by Candida yeast, is a big worry if your blood sugar is high. Too much sugar is the perfect setting for Candida to multiply. If you’re healthy overall, your body can handle a certain amount of Candida. But if your immune system is weak, it can turn into a major oral infection that spreads throughout your body.