Do You Focus More on The Health of Your Teeth Than Your Spine?
We brush our teeth every day twice a day, floss, and go to the dentist every 6 months to maintain a healthy smile. This is important. Healthy gums and teeth are critical to a great quality of life. If you have ever had tooth pain, you understand the importance of healthy teeth. But we don’t pay daily attention to the overall health of our spine and body.
What if you never brushed or flossed and just took your chances with your teeth? How long would it take to have an issue? If you had no tooth pain after a week of not brushing, does that mean everything is great? Should we just wait until our teeth hurt to start brushing again?
No, of course not.
The same principle applies to the rest of the body, specifically your spine and nervous system.
Focus on Spine’s Health
Should we just wait for things to hurt before we do something about it? Let’s wait for debilitating back or neck pain before I see the chiropractor?
When you think about it in relation to our dental care, it doesn’t seem to make sense, does it?
While I agree your teeth and gums are very important, I would argue that your brain, spinal cord, and nervous system are the MOST important parts of your body.
Nothing beats, digests, moves, or relaxes unless the nervous system is working correctly. In other words, your body doesn’t function without your nervous system functioning.
So, what are you doing to take care of your spine and nervous system?
Give Your Spine the Attention in Deserves
Stretching, exercise, yoga… all healthy choices, but what if you have stress on your spine, misalignment in your back, neck, or pelvis?
If any of these apply to you, the name of the problem you are facing is Cause!
Chiropractic care focuses on more than just chronic back pain! Doctors of Chiropractic (Doctors of Cause) are trained on specifically finding the areas of stress and misalignment (subluxation) in the spine and nervous system and designing a plan to help you correct the issue and restore your health.
What does getting to the cause of your problem and correcting your spine get you?
Why is an Aligned Spine Important?
Research shows significant improvement in health, better posture, better energy, and much more. Research from the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics shows 60% fewer hospital visits, 59% fewer days spent in the hospital, 62% fewer outpatient surgeries, and 85% fewer costs on pharmaceutical drugs for patients using Chiropractic as their primary health care. [1]
Think about what that means for you and your family’s health, your finances, and your future. So many people only look at short-term goals, such as, “my back hurts, fix it” or “I have limited range of motion”.
But looking at this study, you can see how Chiropractic care translates far beyond just how you feel today.
And that’s before you consider the cost of trying to gain back your health after having lost it.
The average cost per hospital visit in the United States is about $10,700. [2] For Pneumonia, the average cost of a hospital stay was $9,793. For Osteoarthritis, it was $15,897, and for heart attacks, the average cost was $20,246. Plus, get this, the cost for a hospital stay for back problems was $18,978.
I think I know somebody who can help you with back problems. And in the process, you would go to the hospital an average of 60% less and stay in the hospital 59% less.
If you do the math, that’s tens of thousands of dollars saved on medical bills.
You Spend Money on Your Dental Health But Not Your Spine’s Health
With that in mind, let’s return to dental health for just a moment.
Braces cost between $3,000-$11,000, and often they are largely cosmetic, meaning the natural condition of the teeth isn’t affecting health or the ability to eat food at all.
Oftentimes, a major argument against regular Chiropractic care is about the money. But as we’ve proven already, over time, Chiropractic care may save you money. Plus, even if it didn’t, is the appearance of your teeth more important than the health of your body?
I am not saying you shouldn’t get braces, but rather that you may need to reassess what areas of your body are most important.
Disease prevention and your overall health must climb the ladder of importance in your life.
If you’re willing to spend money on teeth (which the vast majority do for regular cleanings, braces, crowns, whitening, and so on), then you should also be willing to spend money on your spine and nervous system (aka Chiropractic).
After all, the benefits of Chiropractic go far beyond saving money.
Is Your Spine a Predicator of Overall Health?
One area Chiropractic may improve is your posture. Maybe it’s the way you work, or the technology you use. Whatever causes it, you likely have poor posture. The majority of modern society does!
I don’t expect anybody to stop working or stop using technology. These things are a part of life, so what we have to do is figure out how to stay healthy while working and keep a better posture while using technology. No matter how cool that iPhone or new video game is, it’s not worth long-term health issues.
Studies show a 44% higher risk of death from atherosclerosis and pulmonary disease in those with poor posture.[3] Atherosclerosis and pulmonary disease affect your heart and lungs (two pretty important areas), and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
What is Your Posture as You Read This?
We often say “posture is the window to the spine.”
Who hasn’t sat hunched over a desk for too long and then felt pain in their back? This means your spine is in that position for several hours per day.
How about every parent telling their children, “sit up straight?”
There is an innate need to keep yourself upright, but with time and the pressure of poor work ergonomics, things can start to slip. Think about the person who works at a computer 3-5 hours a day (or more), or the person who drives 3-5 hours a day (or more). If you sit 3-5 hours a day every day (or more), eventually that will wear on your body. What we miss is that it doesn’t just affect the outside and your appearance.
More importantly, it affects the inside, including the spinal cord and nervous system.
The nervous system directly communicates with your organs and tissues. It makes sense that if your head is straining forward constantly you will start to stretch and strain the nerves in the neck, mid-back, and low back. These nerves travel to every cell, tissue, and organ in your body (think heart, lungs, digestion, immune system…), and communicate your brain signals so everything is functioning correctly. A healthy nervous system is so much more than pain or no pain. It can be a matter of life and death, which we see in the research.
My point is not that you should avoid work, or the dentist, or make excuses, I am simply saying there is a better way to take care of your health than just waiting for something to hurt. We know to brush our teeth to be proactive, we go to the gym to be proactive, we eat healthy to be proactive. If the most important part of the entire body is our brain, spinal cord, and nervous system, it would make sense to be proactive with this also.
If you have not had your spine checked, or if you have not seen a MaxLiving chiropractor it’s time to put that higher on your list. It doesn’t matter what kind of car you drive, what type of house you have, or what your teeth look like if you don’t have your health.
Related Articles:
Learn more about the Science of Chiropractic
Why is it unhealthy to sit for an extended period of time?
Read more chiropractic care and what you can expect during an adjustment.
About the Author
Dr. Nicholas Deignan is the owner of Deignan Family Chiropractic in Barrington, Illinois. He received his doctorate in chiropractic from Life University in Marietta, Georgia, in 2010. He has been successfully practicing Chiropractic since and is proud to serve his patients today from his own successful practice.
References
[1] Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics May 2007;30(4): 263-269. “Clinical utilization and cost outcomes from an integrative medicine independent physician association: an additional 3-year update.” RL Sarnat, J Winterstein, JA Cambron
[2]https://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-health-conditions-hospital-costs-2018-2
[3] https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/the-average-cost-of-braces-and-how-to-save
[4]Journal of American Geriatric Society, October 2004; 52(10): 1662-1667. “Hyperkyphotic posture predicts mortality in older community-dwelling men and women: a prospective study.” Kado Dm, Huang MH, Karlamangla AS, Barrett-Connor E, Greendale GA
