Who would guess that simply licking your lips could affect your dental health? However, licking the lips can trigger problems with your oral health. Read the following details to find out why.
Keeping Your Lips Moist - Why Licking the Lips is Harmful
When lips are healthy, they are soft and moist, and aid you in speaking or eating. Licking your lips too much leads to dermatitis, and triggers cracked and chapped lips. When this occurs, your lips do not function as they should. Moreover, cracked lips, which result from lip licking, allows debris and bacteria to gain access to your body. You can even end up getting an infection - one that spreads, affecting your overall physical health and well-being.
How to Keep the Lips Healthy
To maintain the health of your lips, you need to moisten them by hydrating them. That means you need to drink plenty of water each day. Drink at least 8 glasses of water to improve the nature of your lips, and your health overall. Also, if you live in a dry and hot climate, or an extremely cold climate, buy lip balm to keep your lips from cracking or chapping. Besides balm, you can moisten them externally with water. According to health professionals, wetting your lips with water is a better way to keep the lips healthy versus licking them. That is because saliva in the mouth irritates the lips, which leads to cracks or chapping. That is why it is essential that you find ways to soften your lips with external moisturizers.
If you would like to ensure your oral health, make sure you don't make a practice of licking your lips. While you may think you are moistening them, you are actually doing more harm than good. Instead, use a lip balm or plain water to keep them healthy and your mouth free of infection. If you have not done so lately, give us a call to schedule a dental appointment now.
Dental Blog - Lakewood, CO • Northstar Dental The doctors at Northstar Dental have provided this informative dental blog to provide education and information for the Lakewood and great Denver Colorado community. Click to view the latest posts. Northstar Dental, 860 Tabor St, Ste 100, Lakewood, CO 80401 ~ (303) 481-3901 ~ northstardentalco.com ~ 12/2/2024 ~ Page Phrases: dentist Lakewood CO ~
Who would guess that simply licking your lips could affect your dental health? However, licking the lips can trigger problems with your oral health. Read the following details to find out why.