It is often said that teeth are the best business card. And indeed, more and more people value beautiful teeth. There is usually an optical reason for this. But beautiful and healthy teeth are even more important for health. Awareness of this is increasing, but many people still do not know that tissues, organs and teeth interact with each other. “The body is a unit, the teeth are part of it and play an important role in health,” says Christof Dorfer, director of the clinic for conservative dentistry and periodontics on the Kiel campus of the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein. Also involved in health – or disease – are the many species of bacteria that thrive in the mouth and elsewhere. In particular, if diseases such as caries and periodontitis are left untreated for a long time, this can have a negative impact on the entire body.
