The Impact of Diabetes on Teeth and Gums
ONE OF THE MOST common complications of diabetes is gum disease, and that isn’t the only way diabetes is hard on teeth and gums. Diabetes and oral health have a close relationship. If the diabetes isn’t carefully controlled, it will be much harder to maintain good oral health, and vice versa. What Does Blood Sugar Have to Do with Oral Health? You’ve probably already heard that sugar is bad for oral health. The harmful bacteria in our mouths love to eat leftover sugar stuck to our teeth after we enjoy a tasty treat. Unfortunately, high blood sugar is just as delicious to harmful oral bacteria. High blood sugar also weakens the immune system, making that same bacteria harder to fight. This leaves diabetic patients more vulnerable to tooth decay and oral inflammation. Diabetes and Gum Disease An estimated 22 percent of diabetics (both type 1 and type 2) have gum disease. It
How Smoking Affects Kids’ Oral Health
WE’VE ALL HEARD over and over how smoking can adversely impact health, with the most infamous example being lung cancer. But smoking doesn’t only harm the lungs; it damages every single system in the body, and it also damages oral health. As parents, we should do whatever we can to make sure our kids and teens aren’t picking up such a harmful habit. Smoking Versus Oral Health According to the ADA, some of the oral health effects of smoking include: Chronic bad breath Stains on the tongue and teeth Dulled senses of taste and smell Receding gums Enamel erosion Tooth and bone loss Increased risk of gum disease and oral cancer What About Vaping? Vaping is often portrayed as a much healthier option to traditional smoking, but the vapor still contains nicotine and ultra-fine toxic chemicals and heavy metals. The nicotine itself reduces blood flow, affecting teeth and gums, potentially causing gum recession
The Hazards of Oral Piercings
FROM CLOTHING TO HAIRSTYLE to cosmetics to accessories, our personal style is how we portray who we are, and this can include piercings. However, where clothing and hairstyles are very rarely health risks (we hope), the same isn’t true of piercings. Oral piercings, specifically, pose several risks to healthy teeth and gums. Risks of Tongue and Lip Rings No piercing is entirely safe. Even basic earlobe piercings aren’t entirely risk-free, as they can become infected or there may be an allergic reaction to the metal. The same risks apply to oral piercings, but there are also additional ones with those. Damage from fidgeting: it’s difficult to resist fidgeting with any foreign object in the mouth, but doing that with a tongue or lip piercing can result in chipped or cracked teeth, damage to fillings, and injuries to the soft tissues of the gums, lips, or tongue. Nerve damage: tongue piercings can cause temporary
How Smoking Affects Oral Health
WE’VE ALL HEARD over and over how smoking can adversely impact health, with the most infamous example being lung cancer. But smoking doesn’t only harm the lungs; it damages every single system in the body, and it also damages oral health. Smoking Increases the Risk of Oral Cancer Like we said before, lung cancer tends to get all the attention when it comes to consequences of smoking, but four out of every five people diagnosed with oral cancer smoke or chew tobacco. Early symptoms of oral cancer include persistent mouth sores or pain, unusual white patches, swelling, numbness, difficulty chewing or swallowing, and a sensation of having something stuck in the throat. What Is Smoker’s Keratosis? The weirdest effect smoking can have on oral health is that it can cause white patches to develop on the roof of the mouth. These patches are smoker’s keratosis (or stomatitis nicotina). This condition is still
Gum Recession: Minimizing Your Risks
THE EXPRESSION “getting long in the tooth” refers to gum recession, but this oral health problem isn’t necessarily connected to age. Gum recession is when the edge of the gingival tissue moves away from the crown of the tooth, exposing the root. The reason we tend to think of it as an age-related problem is that it tends to be so gradual that it takes many years to become noticeable, but it can begin at any age — even in childhood! — for a variety of reasons. Gum Recession Caused by Genetics Unfortunately, gum recession isn’t always avoidable, because it can be caused by genetics. Some people simply have more fragile gum tissue or they don’t have enough jaw bone surrounding the roots of their teeth to support the gums all the way up to the crowns. However, other contributing factors are easier to control, so even people who are predisposed to gum recession can
Sugar, Its Many Aliases, and Your Teeth
WHAT COMES TO MIND when you hear the word “sugar”? Probably your favorite type of candy or dessert, maybe your favorite soda. You probably didn’t picture barbecue sauce, granola bars, flavored yogurt, or fruit juice, but all of these and plenty more foods you wouldn’t suspect are loaded with sugar. That isn’t great news for our oral health. Sugar Versus Our Teeth Why are dental health professionals like us wary of sugar? Simple. The harmful bacteria on our teeth and gums like to eat sugar as much as we do. When they’ve enjoyed a tasty meal from the food fragments that remain in your mouth after a sweet treat, they excrete acid onto your teeth. This acid eats away at tooth enamel and irritates the gums, and if we aren’t careful, it can lead to issues like tooth decay and gum disease. Learn to Recognize the Many Names of Sugar If sugar
The Main Culprits Behind Child Tooth Decay
AT LEAST TWO OUT OF every five children will develop one or more cavity by the time they turn eleven. That statistic makes tooth decay the most common childhood disease. The good news is that parents can make a huge difference in their children’s dental health, and the first step is understanding the major culprits of childhood tooth decay. Sugary Drinks in Sippy Cups and Bottles Many of the drinks kids love are packed with sugar, and we’re not just talking about soda. Fruit juice, despite carrying the assumption of being healthier, contains nearly the same amount of sugar, and even milk is nowhere near sugar-free. The sugars in these drinks are a problem for oral health because harmful oral bacteria love to eat sugar as much as we do, increasing the risk of decay. What makes sugary drinks even more dangerous is constant exposure. Drinking a cup of juice with a
Seal Out Plaque With Sealants
BY THE TIME THEY reach kindergarten, 40 percent of children develop cavities. The main culprits are sugary snacks and poor oral hygiene. As parents, it’s very important to do everything we can to protect our children’s teeth from decay, and that becomes even more important when the adult teeth start coming in. One great tool for reducing the risk of decay is dental sealants. What Are Sealants? Dental sealants are a protective layer of clear plastic that we brush onto the chewing surfaces of molars to seal out cavity-causing plaque and bacteria. Sealants have been around since the ‘60s, and they’re still popular today because of their effectiveness. Sealants have been shown to reduce the risk of decay by 80 percent! Children without sealants are almost three times more likely to develop cavities. Molars are the most common targets for sealants because we do the most chewing with our molars and they have deep crevices
The Ways Medicine Affects Oral Health
EVERY MEDICATION COMES with a list of potential side effects. Sometimes those side effects include a negative impact on oral health. The Chemistry Of Medicine And The Mouth Certain medications and vitamins can be pretty hard on our teeth, even for the short time they’re in our mouths. As adults, we swallow most of our medicines in pill form, so we don’t have to worry about these problems, but it can be an issue for children. Medicine for kids often comes in the form of sweet syrup and multivitamins, and the sugars in them feeds oral bacteria and leads to tooth decay. Another culprit is asthma inhalers, which can lead to oral thrush — white patches of fungus on the tongue, inside the cheeks, and other oral tissues. These can be irritating or painful. The best way to prevent this complication from inhaler use is for the patient to rinse with water after every use. Rinsing
Dentures Through History
TOOTH LOSS HAS BEEN a problem people have had to deal with all throughout history, and false teeth have been a solution since at least 2500 B.C. Dentures Through The Ages The oldest known false teeth were discovered in Mexico, made of wolf teeth. Millennia later, around 700 B.C., the ancient Etruscans would use gold bands or wire to attach human or animal teeth, and two false teeth made of bone and wrapped in gold wire were found in the tomb of El Gigel in Egypt. In 16th century Japan, they began to use wood as a material for false teeth. By the 1700s, carved ivory had become a popular denture material, and dentures would be crafted by ivory turners, goldsmiths, and barber-surgeons out of ivory, human teeth, and animal teeth. The Myth Of George Washington’s Wooden Teeth The first president of the United States struggled with dental health problems from his twenties