Everyday Habits That Damage Your Teeth

You plan meals, grab drinks, and play sports without giving much thought to your teeth. But you might not realize how food, beverages, and activities can wreck the health of your pearly whites. Twenty-five percent of U.S. adults over age 65 have lost all their teeth - here's how you can protect your own. Here are a lists of the habits that we do in which damages out teeth:

Sugar and Teeth

Sugar is the No. 1 enemy of your teeth, and the longer it stays in your mouth, the worse it is. Sugar is consumed by acid-producing bacteria in your mouth. The acids eat away at tooth enamel. Avoid foods like jelly candies, which stick in your teeth longer than other foods and bathe them in sugar. Dried fruit such as raisins are no better. Reach for fresh fruit instead.

Beverages and Teeth

Soda is just plain bad for teeth, sugar-free or not. "You're bathing teeth in an acid environment," says Robert Sorin, DDS, clinical instructor in the department of dentistry and oral surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Club soda is harmful, too, because of its acidity, and so are juices with added sugar.
Alcohol, even just a glass of wine, is also acidic and can erode the teeth. In addition, alcohol dries out your mouth, reducing saliva production. "Saliva bathes the teeth and helps remove plaque and bacterial accumulations from the teeth's surface. Less plaque equals less risk for bacterial acids to cause decay," Sorin says. Rinse your mouth with water between drinks.

Other Risks to Teeth

If you use your teeth to snap off bottle caps, remove clothing tags, or open plastic bags, stop immediately. Smokers should also consider how the habit affects oral health. Nicotine yellows teeth and can also cause oral cancer. Chewing tobacco is even worse because the tobacco and associated carcinogens come into direct contact with the gums and soft tissues and stay there for a long time.
Also, ask your doctor or pharmacist if your medicines might cause dry mouth. According to the American Dental Association, more than 500 medications -- from pain relievers to antihistamines -- can do so. Dry mouth inhibits saliva production and increases your risk of cavities.
If you play contact sports, pick up a mouth guard at a sports store or have your dentist make you a custom one for maximum protection and comfort.
You don't even have to be awake to damage your teeth. Sorin says as many as 8% of Americans grind or clench their teeth, especially at night. If this is you, make an appointment with your dentist right away.

Q&A on Chewing Ice

Q: "I started to chew ice 10 years ago because it is so soothing. Now I can't give it up. Is it really so bad for my teeth?"
Krystn Wagenberg, 51, producer, New York, N.Y.
 A: "Yes, unfortunately. Chewing on ice, pens, pencils, and bobby pins can cause wear and tear on the tooth and enamel surfaces covering the tooth. If your teeth are worn or chipped already, the ice can crack and damage the tooth structure."
Robert Sorin, DDS clinical instructor, department of dentistry and oral surgery, New York-Presbyterian Hospital

Source: WebMD / http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/features/your-teeth-bad-habits

Dental care being provided at home for frail seniors

I am touched by this article, there needs to have more registered dentist whose heart goes out for the elderly and will do their very best to take care of their oral health. Some of these older people has no ability to walk and to brush their teeth, most of them are already restricted in their bed, they really need someone who will take care of their overall health, and among it is their dental hygiene.

Read:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Diann Azevedo makes house calls.
As a registered dental hygienist in alternative practice -- whose clients include the frail, homebound elderly as well as the developmentally disabled -- she is part of a growing movement to take routine dental care out of the office and into vulnerable patients' homes.
She totes a portable dental chair in her car, along with a large kit stuffed with dental supplies.
"Has your mother had any changes in her medications?" she asked Jeanne Andrews, whose mother, 80-year-old Dolores Hanson, has advanced-stage Alzheimer's disease.
For Hanson, the dental chair wasn't necessary.
The symptoms of her illness include rigidity and loss of balance. She can't walk and she no longer talks. She sometimes can't even sit. Her awareness flickers in and out. Illness has restricted her life to a hospital bed in a bedroom of the small Roseville, Calif., apartment she shares with Andrews, who cares for her.
Propped into place with pillows in the hospital bed, Hanson gazed at Azevedo's face as the dental hygienist gently began a routine cleaning and examination. Reflex kicked in, and Hanson bit down on the toothbrush.
"It's OK," Azevedo said softly, and she retrieved a rubber bite block from her bedside supplies.
In an aging nation -- with the population of older adults soaring with the graying of the baby boom generation -- maintaining seniors' oral health has become an unexpectedly urgent issue.
To meet the growing need, California a decade ago began licensing registered dental hygienists in alternative practice to take routine care into nursing homes and private residences.
"It's a job of the heart," said Susan Lopez, president of the California Dental Hygienists' Association. "The frail, elderly homebound are so fragile."
Today, 400 hygienists such as Azevedo provide care across the state, along with 17,000 dental hygienists in traditional practice. Twenty-two more states are considering legislation to expand the scope of hygienists' care beyond the office.
According to a surgeon general's report, infections related to dental problems are a silent epidemic, with almost one-fourth of people ages 65 to 74 suffering from periodontal disease that can become so severe it leads to systemic inflammation.
"When you have a high bacterial load, it affects your respiratory system and blood system," said Lopez. "People have a low-grade infection all the time. They feel rotten."
Or worse: They can suffer heart disease and stroke as a result of infections that begin in the mouth, and some studies show a strong link with diabetes as well.
"Infection of gum tissue is invasive," said Azevedo. "An abscess is serious. People can die because an infection left untreated can go to the brain."
That's exactly what happened a little more than a year ago, when the death of a 24-year-old Ohio man from severe, untreated gum infection made national news. He had lost his job and couldn't afford dental insurance, according to reports.
The connection with older adults? Many lose their dental insurance when they retire, leading them to forgo the routine dental treatments that could prevent problems from developing.
For seniors in particular, delaying care can lead to dire complications as well as higher medical and dental costs, not to mention a whole lot of pain."The cost of neglect is enormous," said Lopez. "Having dental work done in the emergency room is the most costly way of providing dental care."
The elderly are more prone to oral health issues anyway.
Many medications as well as certain cancer treatments can cause dry mouth, which can lead to root decay, according to experts. And gum disease can result in diminished sense of taste, digestive problems, jawbone loss and loss of teeth.
Only 30 years ago, almost half of people 65 and older had lost some or all of their teeth to neglect, gum disease, accident or age; that number has dropped to only 25 percent, Lopez said.
"We used to accept losing teeth as a part of aging," she said. "We don't accept that any more. The baby boomers will not accept that."
"And when people have dentures, everything has a plastic taste," she said. "Everything you eat has a mouthful of plastic with it."
But even with dental insurance, access to office care in advanced age can grow iffy as a result of physical problems -- everything from debilitating arthritis pain, which can limit mobility, to the encroaching toll of dementia.
For as long as Hanson was able to walk, her daughter took her to Azevedo's office for routine cleanings.
"But after a few years, she couldn't walk up the stairs any more," said Andrews, 56, who does part-time medical transcription work at home so she can care for Hanson.
And so began Azevedo's house calls.
"It's important to have her teeth and gums checked, because if you don't, it leads to pain," said Andrews. "This way she can enjoy food. It's one of the few things left to her, along with music and her cats. It's that simple."
Frank Sinatra's music played softly in Hanson's bedroom as Azevedo peered into her mouth, gently brushing, scraping and checking her gums and teeth.
After a half-hour examination and cleaning, Azevedo pronounced Hanson's mouth healthy.
"We're almost done," she said, finishing with a quick swabbing of topical fluoride varnish on Hanson's teeth. "You need a rest. I can tell."

By Anita Creamer, Sacramento Bee

Source: ABC News / http://www.turnto23.com/lifestyle/dental-care-being-provided-at-home-for-frail-seniors01032013

Parents' Fear of Dentist May Get Passed On to Kids

In order for the kids to be brave enough to visit the dentist, parents must set a tough impression for the kids and hide their own fear, this is what I have read in an article I came across on the internet. Children will get even more fearful of the dentists if their own parents shows the same fear infront of them.

Parents who dread visiting the dentist should keep their anxiety to themselves to avoid passing their fear on to their children, a new study suggests.

Spanish researchers looked at 183 children, aged 7 to 12, and their families. The greater the level of dentist fear or anxiety in one family member, the higher the level in the rest of the family, they found.

The investigators also found that the father's feelings about going to the dentist play a key role in whether a mother's fear of the dentist will be passed on to their children, according to the team at the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid.

"Although the results should be interpreted with due caution, children seem to mainly pay attention to the emotional reactions of the fathers when deciding if situations at the dentist are potentially stressful," study co-author America Lara-Sacido said in a news release from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology.

The findings show the need to involve parents -- especially fathers -- in efforts to prevent children from being afraid of dentists, and the need to get fathers to make regular dental visits and show no signs of fear or anxiety, the researchers suggested.

"With regard to assistance in the dental clinic, the work with parents is key," Lara-Sacido said. "They should appear relaxed as a way of directly ensuring that the child is relaxed too."

The study was published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry.

 Source: US News / http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/11/26/parents-fear-of-dentist-may-get-passed-on-to-kids

I have no idea how serious a simple gingivitis could be after reading this article:

Gingivitis Bacteria Manipulate Your Immune System So They Can Thrive In Your Gums

A new research report published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows how the bacteria known for causing gum disease--Porphyromonas gingivalis--manipulates the body's immune system to disable normal processes that would otherwise destroy it. Specifically, the report shows that this pathogen prompts the production of the anti-inflammatory molecule Interleukin-10 (IL-10). This, in turn, inhibits the function of T-cells, which would otherwise help to protect the host from this particular microbial infection. 


"Since greater than 50 percent of the U.S. population over 50 years-of-age develop adult periodontal disease, we hope that the results of our study will ultimately help in the development of novel treatments that could prevent or ameliorate the chronic infection caused by the pathogen P. gingivalis,'" said Jannet Katz, D.D.S., Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

To make this discovery, scientists used cells from mice that were exposed to P. gingivalis. One portion of the cells was treated with an inhibiting antibody against IL-10 and the other portion of cells was not treated. All of the cells were then tested for interferon gamma production. An increase of interferon gamma production was seen in the treated cells, but no increase was found in the untreated cells. These findings suggest that the damage done by P. gingivalis happens when the immune cells of the host are first exposed to this pathogen, and further implies that for treatment to be successful, it must be started as early as possible. This study highlights the mechanism by which P. gingivalis can establish a chronic infection in the form of periodontal disease and provides insight into how the disease develops. Results also demonstrate the importance of very early intervention either by eradication of the bacterium with specifically designed therapeutics or by prevention via the development of an effective vaccine. 


"Gum diseases and the infections that cause them can be incredibly stubborn and difficult to treat," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. "What isn't as well known is why these infections are so difficult to eradicate. These new studies now demonstrate that these bacteria go beyond merely evading our body's defenses and actually manipulate our immune systems for their own survival."

Resources:  Medical News Today