Why Healthy Teeth Are Important

How does taking care of your teeth help with all those things? Taking care of your teeth helps prevent plaque , which is a clear film of bacteria sticks to your teeth.

After you eat, bacteria go crazy over the sugar on your teeth, like ants at a picnic. The bacteria break it down into acids that eat away tooth enamel, causing holes called cavities. Plaque also causes gingivitis (say: jin-juh-vi-tis), which is gum disease that can make your gums red, swollen, and sore. Your gums are those soft pink tissues in your mouth that hold your teeth in place.

If you don't take care of your teeth, cavities and unhealthy gums will make your mouth very, very sore. Eating meals will be difficult. And you won't feel like smiling so much.
Before Toothpaste Was Invented

We're lucky that we know so much now about taking care of our teeth. Long ago, as people got older, their teeth would rot away and be very painful. To get rid of a toothache, they had their teeth pulled out. Finally people learned that cleaning their teeth was important, but they didn't have toothpaste right away. While you're swishing that minty-fresh paste around your mouth, think about what people used long ago to clean teeth:

* ground-up chalk or charcoal
* lemon juice
* ashes (you know, the stuff that's left over after a fire)
* tobacco and honey mixed together

Yuck!

It was only about 100 years ago that someone finally created a minty cream to clean teeth. Not long after that, the toothpaste tube was invented, so people could squeeze the paste right onto the toothbrush! Tooth brushing became popular during World War II. The U.S. Army gave brushes and toothpaste to all soldiers, and they learned to brush twice a day. Back then, toothpaste tubes were made of metal; today they're made of soft plastic and are much easier to squeeze!

Today there are plenty of toothpaste choices: lots of colors and flavors to choose from, and some are made just for kids. People with great-looking teeth advertise toothpaste on TV commercials and in magazines. When you're choosing a toothpaste, make sure it contains fluoride. Fluoride makes your teeth strong and protects them from cavities.

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Brushing Tips

The modified Bass technique (below) is among the most popular for adults. Parents should supervise their children's brushing until age 9 or 10. Here are a few general pointers about brushing.

Brush at least twice a day.
One of those times should be just before you go to bed. When you sleep, your mouth gets drier. This makes it easier for acids from bacteria to attack your teeth. Also try to brush in the morning, either before or after breakfast. After breakfast is better. That way, bits of food are removed. But if you eat in your car or at work, or skip breakfast, brush first thing in the morning. This will get rid of the plaque that built up overnight.


Brush no more than three times a day.
Brushing after lunch will give you a good midday cleaning. But brushing too often can damage your gums.


Brush lightly. Brushing too hard can damage your gums. It can cause them to recede (move away from the teeth). Plaque attaches to teeth like jam sticks to a spoon. It can't be totally removed by rinsing, but a light brushing will do the trick. Once plaque has hardened into calculus (tartar), brushing can't remove it. If you think you might brush too hard, hold your toothbrush the same way you hold a pen. This encourages a lighter stroke.


Brush for at least two minutes.
Set a timer if you have to, but don't skimp on brushing time. Two minutes is the minimum time you need to clean all of your teeth. Many people brush for the length of a song on the radio. That acts as a good reminder to brush each tooth thoroughly.


Have a standard routine for brushing.
Try to brush your teeth in the same order every day. This can help you cover every area of your mouth. If you do this routinely, it will become second nature. For example, you can brush the outer sides of your teeth from left to right across the top, then move to the inside and brush right to left. Then brush your chewing surfaces, too, from left to right. Repeat the pattern for your lower teeth.

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Can Schools Improve Kids Health by Banning Homemade Lunches?

Some of my friends are circulating this Chicago Tribune article about a public school in Chicago banning homemade lunches. Chicago's solution for the school nutrition conundrum is not a trend, but it brings up a good opportunity to talk about the perpetual hot-potato topic of healthy foods at school.

I’m old enough to remember frantically trying to bake cookies the night before a class party when my daughter was in grade school, only to feel like a failure when I screwed up the recipe—for no-bake cookies, no less—and had to swing by the grocery store to buy prepackaged treats. (Note to those who might be considering making my favorite no-bake cookies—do not use tub margarine because the cookies won’t set.)

Now, there are strict guidelines at most schools and daycares about what type of food can be brought to share with the class. In short, nothing homemade is permitted, because the teachers must be able to clearly discern the ingredients in case of allergies. Less guilt for me, the non-baker, but less fun and more processed food for all the kids’ birthday celebrations.

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Omega-3's linked to a lower risk of gum disease

However, the researchers are hesitant to provide omega-3's full credit just yet, as other factors might be involved, too.

Advanced gum disease, known as periodontitis, is a chronic inflammation caused by the accumulation of bacteria at the gum line. The situation can lead to bone and tooth loss.

"The bacteria involved appear to need inflammation to grow," senior researcher Dr. Kenneth J. Mukamal of Harvard Medical School, Boston, told Reuters Health in an e-mail. "Indeed, anti-inflammatory treatment with omega-3's seems to help experimental periodontitis in rabbits. Our hope was to extend that to humans."

Mukamal and his colleagues studied more than 9,000 adults, every participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2004.

About eight percent of the participants had gum disease, report the researchers in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Based on the participants' recalls of their diets over the previous 24 hours, the team found that those who consumed intermediate or high amounts of one of the major fish-derived omega-3 fatty acids, DHA, were less likely to have the disease.

Dental public health

Dental public health is a clinical speciality of Dentistry. Dental public health is occupied in the evaluation of dental health requirements and civilizing the dental health of populations rather than persons.

One of the contentious subjects connecting to dental public health is Fluoridation of drinking water. Profitable mouthwashes have also been a cause for concern, with some studies linking them to an increased risk of oral cancer.

By means of fluoridation and oral hygiene, tooth decay is still the most ordinary food associated disease touching all families, having the monetary collision of heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

Decay is trouble-free to avoid with a national project like Supertooth to diminish acid demineralisation from food left on teeth, neutralise acid and remineralise demineralised tooth after eating, or at least double a day chewing a extraordinary form of toothpaste before or after brushing.

All cavities occur from acid demineralisation of teeth where chewing leaves food attentive on teeth. Though more than 95% of trapped food is left crammed between teeth after every meal or snack, over 80% of cavities enlarge inside pits and fissures in grooves on chewing surfaces where the brush and fluoride toothpaste cannot reach.