Adrian Kat | Ignoring dental problems can have a high cost later on

The mouth is a more than a smile, it's a health barometer and can serve as a gauge to a patient's overall health.

To understand how the mouth can affect the body, it helps to understand what can go wrong in the first place. Poor dental hygiene can cause the growth of harmful bacteria. This bacteria build up on teeth makes gums susceptible to infection. It triggers an immune reaction to attack the infection, leaving the gums inflamed and often bleeding.

Without dental attention the inflammation remains and the infection grows in seriousness. In time the inflammation and the chemicals it releases, eat away at the gums and the jaw bone structure that hold the teeth in place.

Besides the obvious fact that gum infections can be painful, left untreated, gum disease, known as periodontitis, harms our health and it can have a cascading effect on the rest of the body.

This domino effect of untreated inflammation and infection is a stark reminder of the link between our mouth health and body health.

Gum disease can leave patients exposed to cardiovascular problems, low birth weight in babies, gastrointestinal issues, type 2 diabetes and respiratory problems.

The risk of developing periodontitis is greater in people with diabetes. Inflammation that starts in the mouth seems to weaken the body's ability to control blood sugar.

Research shows if you have gum disease, you're twice as likely to have heart disease. Twenty-two per cent of Australians having moderate or severe periodontal disease.

And there's evidence that premature or low birth weight deliveries are related to gum disease.

Research from the University of Sydney found if gum inflammation is treated during pregnancy, the risk of a baby being born pre-term is reduced by approximately 50 per cent.

Studies also show a strong link between periodontal health and pulmonary disease.

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Inflammation is a real problem wherever it is in our body but living with a serious inflammation in the mouth can trigger an uncontrolled inflammatory response and it can also release inflammatory markers and bacteria into the blood stream.

Left untreated, bacteria in the mouth can travel through the bloodstream to the surgery site, causing complications such an endocarditis, a potentially life-threatening infection of the inner tissues of the heart, including the heart valves.

It's why doctors are cautious about allowing a patient with poor oral health to undergo surgery because of this risk of infection.

Oral neglect leads to infections in our mouth and it poses the greatest risk to our overall health. If you think skipping a dental check-up is harmless, think again. The price of neglect is far greater than we might realise.