DENTAL CARE

Q: Your Teeth Look Fantastic! A: That’s what I said to a patient last Friday morning as I finished her 6 month checkup and cleaning. This patient was seen all too often for decay, root canals and crowns. It felt like every few months, she was calling with broken teeth and pain. What was her response to my comment? She showed me a great smile and said “I started to floss”. There’s actually more to the story than than that. She is actually a raisin lover. Every morning, it was Raisin Bran. Snacks all day long were raisins. Now raisins, or dried fruit in general, are great snacks to eat. They are not loaded with all types of chemicals that we find in processed foods. Low sodium, great fiber are some of it’s other attributes. However, it is a sticky food. So all day long it sits and sticks in and around the teeth. This is a formula for disaster. This is especially true if we have a lot of fillings or as we age and expose more root surface. Therefore, removal of the sticky, sugary residue is paramount to reaping all of the health benefits of this great snack while minimizing it’s downside.

Health and particularly oral health is like a “three legged stool”. You need all three legs for the stool to stand upright. If one of the legs is faulty the stool can not stand. It will topple over. Having a healthy oral environment is dependent on three factors also. These factors are not in any particular order as we talk about them. First of all we need to watch what we eat. The texture and makeup of foods can promote or deter oral disease. Certain foods are more conducive to creating an environment where bad bacteria can survive and grow. These bacteria are the prime culprits in cavities and gum disease. These bacteria love the sticky and gooey foods that we all enjoy. As long as the food is stuck in our mouths, these bacteria have a Thanksgiving Day feast. Unfortunately, we are stuck with the bad effects of the this feast.

The second leg of our oral health stool is related to the first one. In facts, it helps control the first one if sticky foods are a large part of our diet. This second leg involves oral hygiene. It is comprised of those activities and tools that we use to reducing the effect of foods on our teeth. It is our actions that we employ to keep our mouth clean. Brushing, flossing, using an oral irrigating device are some of those activities that we utilize to attain a clean mouth. Even rinsing one’s mouth with water after eating can be beneficial in certain circumstances. Yes, anything is better than nothing. Also, the more that you clean, the cleaner things can be. So frequency is also an important factor.

The first two legs, we can control entirely. The last supporting leg of our oral health stool is our own makeup. Our personal genetic composition and how prone we are to decay or gum disease. Well, that’s a bum rap! We can not control that at all. I believed that until I recently learned some new facts. I read and listen to a number of physicians. One of the latest trends in medicine is how life style interacts with the cards that we our dealt with - in other words, our genetic makeup. I recently had a conversation with a cardiologist who spoke to me about this. He told me that even though someone may have genes for heart issues, his habits and lifestyle may prevent those “bad” genes from ever turning on. In other words, create an environment where your genetic makeup has a minimal influence on bad things happening to you.

That means that in the mouth area, eating well, brushing well and often and seeing a professional at the recommended intervals for you can control the age old “soft teeth” or “bad gums run in my family” issues. Staying away from junk and practicing cleanliness will do wonders for our oral health. In fact that is a prescription for health in general. So if you are searching for a way to change your dental future, please feel free to call me and let’s talk about. My wonderful staff and I will do everything that we can to move you along the way to this goal. I can be reached at 440.951.7856 and look forward to speaking to you.

The Healthy Smile

34586 Lakeshore Boulevard (¼ mile west of Route 91 on Lakeshore Boulevard) Eastlake, Ohio 44095 440-951-7856 Severance Medical Arts, Suite 603 5 Severance Center Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118 216-371-2333 www.jeffreygrossdds.com