5 Oral Health Benefits from Practicing Yoga

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Retaining a beautiful smile is not just on the to-do list of the millennials. But as it is one of the most valuable assets that one has, everyone wants to restore their oral health and their million-dollar smile for the longest time.

But did you know that apart from the brushing, flossing and visiting the dentist you can also opt for yoga for taking care of your mouth? Yoga plays an integral role in enhancing your oral health.

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Importance of Yoga for everyday life

You can roll your eyes or laugh this off but considering how interconnected every part of the body is, it is not quite difficult to follow the logic here. The perks of yoga reach far beyond just augmenting the body’s balance and flexibility and improving the mental health of the person. It can come to the rescue of oral health as well.

Yoga in Daily Life

Here are some the benefits that yoga endows upon your oral health. Just take a look.

  • Yoga Reduces the Jaw Pain – One of the main perpetrators of the muscle pain has been poor posture. Your head can fall forth and out of the line with the spine because of slouching. This can trigger discomfort in the jaw. And even your bite can be affected over time.

The jaw pain is also related to a temporomandibular disorder or TMD. This is one issue that impacts and restricts one’s ability to talk, eat and sleep.  The posture can be improved by yoga poses and thus the strain can be taken off the jaw.

  • Yoga Helps to Relieve Stress – A life that is stressful may not just lead to high blood pressure, depression and anxiety but they are also able to give rise to dental issues. Research has revealed that stressed people often ignore their oral care.

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7 Effective Tips for Dental Care and Oral Hygiene

Also, the people who are stressed can also grind their teeth that wear them down. Dry mouth, an oral condition is also caused by stress. Dry mouth occurs when there is no sufficient saliva produced in the mouth. The adequate flow of saliva assists in keeping the mouth clean. Hence the dry mouth can lead to tooth decay. This is further discussed later where you will get to know how yoga helps in the process of saliva production.

Fortunately, the stress can be alleviated with the help of yoga.  It does so by promoting relaxation and calming the mind.

  • Yoga Controls Inflammation -The yoga can assist you in reducing any risk of gum ailment. Through the practice of yoga, one can reduce inflammation not only in case of the mouth but the entire body.  Cortisol which is the stress hormone is generated more when you are stressed out.  Because of that, there is an increased possibility that you will get gum ailment.  As yoga is an effective stress reliever it can decrease the inflammation of your entire body as well as your teeth and gums.
  • Yoga Increases the Saliva Production – The saliva is an amazing compound. The saliva rinses the mouth and removes the bacteria and the food particles. When the saliva production is slow, the mouth is allowed to be dry and as a result of that, the bacteria flourish.

As said earlier, the chronic dry mouth can harm your mouth in more ways than one and can lead to issues like gum ailment, tooth decay and build-up of plaque. That is why it is vital that the saliva productions remain inhibited. Research has revealed that yoga includes proper techniques of breathing that stimulates the production of saliva. Not only that, the poses involving forward bends, twists and inverted stances actually trigger the salivary glands and enhance the production of saliva. Thus, yoga prevents the mouth from drying out.

  • Yoga Stimulates Circulation – The blood circulation plays a crucial role in the well-being of your teeth and gums. You should keep in mind that poor blood circulation is one of the major reasons why smoking can have an adverse impact on oral health. Yoga helps to stimulate good blood circulation. The benefit of this is not only seen in your skin but your gums and teeth are also strengthened because of that.

So apart from taking care of your oral health by sticking to regular oral hygiene and going for a regular dentist appointment, you should also practice yoga that will boost your oral health apart from improving your overall health.