ST. LOUIS, Missouri--The American Academy for Oral Systemic Health has designated the first Wednesday after Thanksgiving as Wellness Wednesday.

In 2012, the Campaign for Healthier Holidays focuses public attention on oral health and its effects on overall wellness.

Proper oral health reduces health-care costs and reduces stress on the body. Research shows that a healthy mouth reduces health-care costs by 20-25% while adding six to 10 good years to life.

Connections have been established between poor oral health and heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, pre-term births, and health complications for newborns.

“The holidays are a wonderful time of the year, but they are killing us!” said AAOSH President Dr. Dan Sindelar.

“By the time the holidays are over, many of us are stressed out, sleep-deprived, tired and inactive, and overweight. And even worse, there are some spikes in some of our biggest health problems, such as heart attacks, debilitating strokes, and complications from diabetes. It’s a crazy time of the year that leads to overeating, not enough sleep, being stressed out, grinding teeth, and a lack of taking care of ourselves.”

Wellness Wednesday will occur every year on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving as a way to rally the public to increased awareness of the importance of health and wellness. The focus on oral health was a natural starting point for AAOSH.

Approximately 80% of the population has some form of gum disease, yet 90% of it goes untreated, despite the fact that it has a key role in many diseases and conditions.

AAOSH hopes that public awareness will lead to timely diagnosis of life-threatening disease. Thanks to scientific breakthroughs, oral health conditions that lead to these diseases can now be identified and treated.

“AAOSH is committed to raising awareness and bringing all sides of health care together to address our looming health-care crisis,” Dr. Sindelar said.

“We encourage everyone to make an appointment with their dentist today, Wellness Wednesday.”

For more information visit WednesdayAfter.com.

To comment on this topic, go to http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com.