It’s just about everyone’s #1 New Year’s resolution. Lose Weight. So many diets to choose from, but often it’s our teeth that take the loss. Seriously. Weight-loss diets can have a major impact on your oral health. Here’s how popular dieting strategies can affect your mouth.

Low-fat diet

Low fat dieting became especially popular during the 80’s and 90’s. It seemed logical. To lose the fat, lose the fat. We are finding out it’s not quite that simple; plus there are three cons against low-fat dieting concerning your dental health.

• • 1. Long story short, a low-fat diet can prevent your body from absorbing calcium. When your body can’t absorb calcium, your teeth and bones begin to break down.
  • 2. Fat helps your brain produce dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter that improves your mood. When your diet lacks omega-3 fatty acids, your stress and anxiety will increase. Stress can lead to tooth grinding and can worsen pain from TMJ.
  • 3. manufacturers often add sugar to reduced-fat products to maintain taste and texture. That added sugar means a higher chance of cavities.

 

• Low-carb and ketogenic diets

Actually, low-carb diets are pretty teeth-friendly. The most noticeable side-effect of a low-carb diet is a unique smell to a dieter’s breath—something between fingernail polish remover and rotten fruit. This is a result of your body using up that fat instead of carbs in a process called ketosis. You can get rid of keto-breath by drinking more water, brushing your teeth and tongue regularly and chewing on natural breath fresheners like parsley and mint.

It’s not all kicks and giggles, however. Your body requires some carbs to stay healthy. High levels of ketones can induce ketoacidosis, an illness in which your blood levels grow dangerously acidic. An overload of ketones can also make your body start to burn muscle instead of fat, cause intense fatigue and even damage your heart.

Low-calorie diet

Cutting calories is a tried and true weight loss strategy. Just be careful to avoid fad diets that reduce your food intake too much. Such diets deplete your body of necessary minerals and vitamins resulting in malnutrition. Malnutrition is bad news all around, but for your mouth it can mean a weakened jawbone (causing your teeth to move or fall out), softened enamel (increasing your chance of cavities) and deficient gums (making you vulnerable to gum disease). On top of that, your hair can start falling out.

Fruit detox

It may seem harmless to survive on only fruits — and maybe vegetables — for a week or so, but such a limited diet can have consequences for your mouth and body. Besides the effects of malnutrition, the high levels of sugar and acid in most fruits can damage your enamel, leaving your teeth and gums vulnerable to decay and infection.

Diet pills

Diet pills have always been controversial for various reasons. As far as your teeth are concerned, diet pills leave you with a dry mouth and host of oral health problems. Saliva contains cavity-fighting chemicals and helps to wash away food and bacteria. With a drier mouth, you’re more susceptible to tooth decay and gum disease.

Before you jump into a new diet, consult your doctor and dentist.

Your mouth is an urban battle zone and your helpless teeth are being held hostage daily. The villains, acids, plaque, and tartar, seek to destroy your teeth while fluoride leads the rescue team of minerals working to restore and protect your pearly whites. Here’s what you need to know.

Every day, minerals are added to and lost from a tooth’s enamel layer through two processes, demineralization and remineralization. Minerals are lost (demineralization) from a tooth’s enamel layer when acids — formed from plaque bacteria and sugars in the mouth — attack the enamel. Minerals such as fluoride, calcium, and phosphate are redeposited (remineralization) to the enamel layer from the foods and waters consumed. Too much demineralization without enough remineralization to repair the enamel layer leads to tooth decay.

So what makes fluoride the captain of dental superheroes? Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay by making the tooth more resistant to acid attacks from plaque bacteria and sugars in the mouth. It also reverses early decay. In children under 6 years of age, fluoride actually becomes part of the permanent teeth, making it difficult for acids to demineralize the teeth. Fluoride also helps speed remineralization and slows down acid production in teeth of both children and adults.

So where can fluoride be found? Most communities add fluoride to the water supply. Toothpastes and mouthwashes are also a common source of fluoride. For individuals who for some reason need an extra boost of fluoride, there are several delivery methods available to your dentist. Only he can choose what is best for you.

On that note, Apple Dental is committed to your dental health. We are just as committed to prevention as we are to restoration. Call and make your appointment today!

You know that fuzzy feeling you get on your teeth between brushings? That soft, sticky film is called dental plaque. This plaque contains millions of bacteria which cause tooth decay and gum disease if they are not removed regularly through brushing and flossing. When you eat, the bacteria in plaque use the sugars in your food to produce acids that eat away at the tooth enamel. Repeated attacks cause the enamel to break down, eventually resulting in a cavity (or hole) in the tooth surface.

Any dental plaque that is not removed daily by brushing and flossing between teeth will eventually set up like concrete as a substance called tartar. Although plaque can be removed simply by brushing and flossing, tartar requires the equivalent of a dental hygienist with a jackhammer. As the tartar, plaque, and bacteria continue to increase, the gum tissue can become red, swollen and possibly bleed when you brush your teeth. This is called gingivitis, an early stage of gum (periodontal) disease.

Gingivitis is reversible with good oral hygiene and professional treatment; however, if left untreated, gingivitis can advance into periodontitis. Periodontitis, a more severe form of gum disease, occurs when a bacterial infection causes your gums and the bone supporting the teeth to break down. Your gums may begin to recede, pulling back from the teeth. In the worst cases, the bone supporting the teeth is destroyed and can lead to tooth loss.

Dental plaque is colorless and difficult to see. Heavy plaque deposits can be easier to see and may look like a thick white deposit or food stuck to the teeth. If you’re not sure if you see any plaque on your teeth, you can use a disclosing tablet (found at your local pharmacy) or you can rinse with a few drops of food coloring in two ounces of water. The disclosing tablets or solution will temporarily stain the plaque so you can see it more easily. You can then brush and floss until the stain is gone.

Since plaque is constantly growing in your mouth, the best way to remove it and to prevent tartar build-up is to brush and floss your teeth every day.

• • Brush your teeth twice a day, using a soft-bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste to remove plaque from tooth surfaces and protect your teeth from decay.
  • Clean between teeth daily (preferably before bedtime) with floss or an interdental cleaner to remove plaque from the places where your toothbrush can’t reach. Flossing is essential to preventing gum disease.
  • Since plaque is a sticky substance, you must brush and floss to help remove it. Mouth rinses alone will not provide enough plaque removal to keep your teeth and gums healthy.
  • Eat a balanced diet and limit between-meal snacks, which can provide more sugar for the bacteria in plaque to convert into decay-causing acids.
  • Visit your dentist at least once a year for professional cleanings and oral exa

ms.

Information courtesy of the Academy of General Dentistry and the American Dental Association.

You’ve taken your toddler to the dentist and all is well. Now comes the time to start training him in the proper techniques for lifelong dental care. Let’s start with a few toddler tooth brushing techniques. Here are four tips for helping your child to develop a good attitude about brushing.

1. Make buying a toothbrush a special occasion. Any grocery or discount store should have a good variety of quality age-appropriate toothbrushes. Take plenty of time and let your child pick out his special brush.

2. While you are there, pick up children’s toothpaste as well. Although adults love a good clean minty taste in their mouths, minty or cinnamon flavored kinds of toothpaste are too strong for most children. A good children’s paste will be a pleasant bubble gum or fruit flavor that is far more favorable to a child’s palate.3. Use a timer to ensure adequate brushing time. Two minutes is an eternity to

3. Use a timer to ensure adequate brushing time. Two minutes is an eternity to a toddler, but the novelty of a timer whether it’s a cute kitchen timer or an app on your phone will help an active child settle down for a good brushing session.

4. Make it a family affair. Bush along with your child making it a family game. Letting your child see that you value your own teeth will help him value his own. The earlier a child develops good dental care, the healthier his teeth will be. So happy brushing!

Here are a few interesting facts about dentistry in history. Reading these may help you appreciate our modern dental practices today!

1. Dentists have been around a long time. Archaeologists have evidence of the first dental fillings in people who lived between 7,000 and 9,000 years ago.
2. If you had a toothache in Germany during the Middle Ages, you would have been told to kiss a donkey to relieve your pain. In earlier times, you would be instructed to boil an earthworm in oil then drop the oil in your ear.
3. In 1498, China invented the first toothbrush using stiff hairs from the back of a pig’s neck. In fact, pig’s hair was used in toothbrushes until nylon bristles were invented in 1938.
4. The earliest accounts of tooth brushing are from India and China in 500 BC. Brushing concoctions included soot, crushed egg shells, and ground ox’s hooves mixed with honey.
5. The world’s oldest recipe for toothpaste came from Egypt in 400 AD. It contained mint, salt, grains of pepper, and dried iris flower. A modern dentist tried it and said it was not unpleasant and left his mouth feeling fresh and clean.
6. In medieval Japan a white smile was considered unattractive. Women used roots and inks to stain their teeth black which they thought was much more attractive.
7. In early America, the local blacksmith also doubled for the town’s dentist. How about a filling with your horseshoe?
8. Contrary to popular belief, George Washington did not have dentures made of wood. His four sets of dentures were actually made of gold, ivory, lead, and a mixture of human, donkey, and hippopotamus teeth.
9. Before 1960, people believed that toothaches were caused by a tooth worm. It wasn’t until 1960 that a dentist proved that tooth decay was actually caused by bacteria.
10. If you had a loose tooth, tying a frog to your jaw would tighten it right up.

Aren’t you glad to know that here at Apple Dental, we have put away our frogs and earthworms and have only the most modern dental practices that have your comfort in mind? Our goal is to make dentistry pain-free. Call us today. We bring dentistry into the 21st century.