Winter Dental Care Tips: Surviving Cold and Flu Season

You probably know by now that good oral health can do a lot more of your body than simply provide you with whiter teeth and a more sparkling smile. But did you realize that it can actually have a bearing on your health in the winter, helping you get through those months where a plague of germs puts you at risk during cold and flu season?

Well, here are some tips to help you survive those common winter bugs, and it starts with your oral health.

1. Replace your toothbrush regularly – a toothbrush that’s not clean can be a source of bacteria and germs as it’s put into the mouth. Replace a toothbrush every four months, whether it appears worn out or not to reduce the spread of germs
2. When you’ve been sick, get a new toothbrush – once you’ve gotten over the cold or flu, you should get a new toothbrush or risk reinfecting yourself every time you clean your teeth
3. Sanitize your toothbrush – any oral health supplies, whether it’s a toothbrush, or tools that help with flossing, can be sanitized. When items are damp, but them in the microwave for one minute to kill bacteria

http://www.universaldentalcenter.com/blog/dental-tips/winter-dental-care-tips-surviving-cold-and-flu-season

How Does a Thyroid Disease Affect Oral Health?

Thyroid conditions make it difficult for the body to produce and regulate a normal amount of very important hormones. This causes a ripple effect that may throw major organs and body systems out of sync. In terms of oral health, the side effects of a thyroid condition may cause serious changes in both the function and health of the tongue, teeth, and gums.

Specifically, thyroid disorders may cause the following conditions (i):

1. Elevated risk of gum disease, heart disease, and stroke.
In general, thyroid conditions may inhibit the body’s ability to heal wounds. This is particularly bad when it comes to oral health, because it makes it easy for the gums to fall into disrepair. Weak or damaged gums are more susceptible to infection than strong and healthy ones, elevating the risk for gum disease among individuals who have a thyroid condition. Elevated risk of gum disease is just the beginning of the story, however.

Individuals with gum disease are also at risk for heart disease and stroke, explains the American Academy of Periodontology (ii). Individuals with gum disease may have a more difficult time warding off oral bacteria compared to individuals with healthy gums. Researchers believe that this makes it easier for oral bacteria to pass through the gums and into the bloodstream. From there, the bacteria attach to fatty plaques and contributes to clot formation.  Additional research has shown that stroke victims are more likely to have an oral infection compared to a control group of individuals who had not suffered from a stroke.

2. Dry mouth (Xerostomia), cavities, and dental caries.
As the name implies, dry mouth occurs when the salivary glands stop producing a normal amount of saliva. Normally, saliva helps to prevent cavities in two big ways. First, it helps to dissolve the foods we eat and prevents stickier food particles, like starches, from clinging to tooth enamel. Second, saliva helps to restore the structural strength of tooth enamel by delivering a continual source of minerals to each tooth in the mouth.

When saliva production is reduced, it becomes easier for food particles to cling to the surfaces of the teeth. Over time, this leads to the cultivation of oral bacteria and tooth decay. Less saliva also means that fewer minerals are delivered to the teeth, making it easier for cavities and dental caries to form in the enamel of each tooth.

3. Enlarged / swollen tongue (Macroglossia).
Thyroid disorders may cause an abnormal swelling of the tongue, which in turn makes it difficult to speak, eat, swallow, and sleep. Of particular concern is the risk this condition poses to the sleep cycle. Individuals with this condition may find it difficult to fall asleep, or they may wake abruptly as the tongue restricts the ability of the body to breath naturally during the night. This condition may contribute to sleep deprivation, a serious sleep disorder that is linked to a number of other conditions like mental fatigue and the early development of Alzheimer’s disease (iii).

4. Distorted sense of taste (Dysgeusia).
A thyroid disorder may also cause the sense of taste to become slowly or abruptly distorted. While non-life threatening, a distorted sense of taste can severely reduce quality of life by decreasing one’s sensitivity to unique flavors or eliminating the sense of taste altogether.

Is There Fluoride in Your Produce?

When thinking about fluoride exposure and its sources, most people think about fluoride in the water supply. But many do not realize that fluoride is also present in the food supply since produce is sprayed with pesticides that contain fluoride.

Fluoride is being added to foods through the use of pesticides that contain fluoride. The most common fluoridated pesticide in the United States is cryolite –a white or colorless mineral made up of fluoride, sodium and aluminum in crystal form. The Environmental Protection Agency currently allows up to 7 parts per million of fluoride on more than 30 fruits and vegetables that are treated with cryolite. They are: apricots, beets, blackberries, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, citrus fruits, collards, cranberries, cucumbers, eggplants, grapes, kale, lettuce, melons, nectarines, peaches, peppers, plums, pumpkins, radishes, raspberries, squash, strawberries, tomatoes and turnip.

One food in particular, grapes, has long been grown using cryolite, using the trade name Kryocide. It is used to fight against leaf-eating pests. Cryolite is applied as dusts, granulars or powders and is applied by ground or aerial spray. It is mostly used on California grapes, potatoes and citrus. Despite cryolites’ use over the past 50 years, insects have not built up a resistance to it, so it is a fundamental pesticide for many growers.

Because cryolite is easily absorbed into the crops that it is sprayed on, people who eat this produce are ingesting an unknown amount of fluoride. And since wine is made from grapes, it is yet another hidden source of fluoride exposure. According to NaturalNews.com, “Cryolite contains aluminofluoride ions that shed fluoride ions, which then pass through the blood-brain barrier and contaminate brain tissue.”

Two Russian studies, from 1977 and 1969 respectively, show evidence to support that workers exposed to fluoride-contaminated compounds experienced negative affects to their reproductive function. Men working in the cryolite industry for 10 to 25 years and who also had skeletal fluorosis – a bone disease caused by excessive consumption of fluoride —demonstrated a decrease in circulating testosterone.  Women whose jobs heavily exposed them to superphosphates, used mainly as a fertilizer, experienced an increase in menstrual irregularities and genital irritation, as compared to non-exposed women.

It may come as a surprise that fluoride is even present in some organic produce. The National Organic Standards (NOS) allow the use of sodium fluoride in organic agriculture. Even though the NOS states that organic produce growers shall not use “natural poisons such as arsenic or lead salts that have long-term effects and persist in the environment” it still allows the use of fluoride, which is non-degradable and accumulates in humans, soil, plants and wildlife.

One research study found that almost all food contains some amount of fluoride since “plants take it up from the soil and from the air. From the soil, fluoride is transmitted through fine hair rootlets into the stems, and some reaches the leaves.”
Another study that analyzed the typical North American diet found that it dishes out about 1.8 milligrams of fluoride each day, which is almost twice the amount of fluoride delivered from drinking one liter of fluoridated water. When we go the extra mile to seek out organic foods in order to avoid pesticides, we don’t expect to get an extra dose of fluoride.

How Does Fluoride Affect the Pineal Gland?

For much of the 1900s, very little research was conducted to study the effect of fluoride accumulation on brain health. By the 1950s, the subject started to garner attention among a number of scientists, researchers, and dental health professionals. In 1990, a major milestone was reached when Dr. Jennifer Luke asked the question: How does the accumulation of fluoride affect the hard and soft tissues of the body?

Dr. Luke narrowed her study to the effect of fluoride on the Pineal gland, a small organ located in the center of the brain. Specifically, she focused on how fluoride accumulation affects the ability of the Pineal gland to secrete melatonin, a very important chemical that helps to regulate sleeping patterns as well as the onset of puberty.

Is There Fluoride in Your Wine?

Many U.S. wines contain fluoride levels that are too high to allow them to be exported to Europe and other countries that have lower fluoride limits than the United States. These wines often contain as much as six parts per million of fluoride, as compared to the Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level for fluoride of four parts per million.

Because fluoride is continuously used on crops and does not biodegrade, it builds up in the soil and is absorbed into plants’ roots, stems, leaves and the fruit. This has most notably been observed in grapes, which have long been grown using cryolite under the trade name Kryocide. It is used to fight against leaf-eating pests. Despite cryolites’ use over the past 50 years, insects have not built up a resistance to it, so it is a fundamental pesticide for many growers.

The chemical company that produces Kryocide, Elf Atochem North America, Inc., released an advisory to U.S. grape growers telling them not to use too much cryolite when growing grapes that were intended for export since they would not meet foreign safety standards. But the company also told these growers to keep using high amounts of cryolite on the grapes grown for domestic use since the U.S. standards for fluoride content are less strict.

A 5-year study conducted on California vineyards in the San Joaquin Valley by researchers at California State University in Fresno found that “multiple applications of cryolite during the growing season significantly increase fluoride in wines.” In grapes grown using cryolite, they found fluoride levels to be between 3 to 6 parts per million and 6 to 9 parts per million, depending on the type of wine. Wines made with grapes grown without the use of cryolite have fluoride ranges from 0.1 to 1.6 parts per million. One glass of wine that has 6 parts per million of fluoride contains more fluoride than one liter of optimally fluoridated water.

During the 1990s, U.S. wines that were exported to Europe were allowed to have up to 3 parts per million of fluoride. This level has since been lowered to 1 part per million. Most European countries do not fluoridate their water, so their safety standards only allow for a much lower limit of fluoride.

What Are the Benefits of Going to the Dentist?

Going to the dentist has many oral health benefits.

A dentist is a licensed health care professional who diagnoses and treats problems of the teeth and tissues of the mouth, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. These individuals use equipment such as X-ray machines, probes, mouth mirrors and drills to identify and remove tooth decay and can even perform corrective surgery or straighten teeth. Visiting the dentist has a wide range of benefits.

Prevention

• By visiting the dentist, you can avoid a variety of oral health problems. Although brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste twice daily and flossing at least once a day is helpful for removing plaque, only a licensed dental professional can remove tartar, or calculus, using special instruments. Plaque is a sticky film that sticks to the teeth and contains germs that feed on the food you eat. If not removed, this film can cause tooth decay, or a cavity, as well as gum inflammation, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, calculus essentially is hardened plaque located above and below the gum line.

  Calculus eventually can lead to periodontal disease, which destroys the gum and bone that support and anchor the teeth, according to HealthOfChildren.com. Visiting your dentist or dental hygienist for regular cleanings, usually every six months, can help prevent these problems. A dental team also can introduce you to a wide variety of brushes and flosses that work best for you and, additionally, help you to establish a healthy diet. Also, if you visit your dentist frequently, you will establish a strong relationship with him. This will make getting rapid treatment easier if you ever experience a dental emergency such as the knocking out of a tooth or the chipping of a tooth.

Teeth Problems

• Another benefit of going to the dentist is that she will help you with any non-traumatic tooth problems which you may be experiencing. For example, if you have a toothache and you do not know the cause, your dentist can clinically examine your mouth and take dental radiographs to help diagnose and treat your problem. You might have a dental abscess--which is a pocket of infection--around a tooth or a cavity in a tooth that the dentist can detect only using an X-ray.

  The dentist then can perform treatment, such as fill your cavity or drain the abscess and clean out the pocket around the tooth. In addition, visiting a dentist allows you to be fitted for a mouth guard if you have pain in your jaw, called temporomandibular joint syndrome. A dentist, in essence, can provide solutions to almost any oral health care problems you are having.

Read more: What Are the Benefits of Going to the Dentist? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6537006_benefits-going-dentist_.html#ixzz28MrT5Lvp

How to prevent bleeding gums

Oral Health

By maintaining general oral health, gum bleeding can be minimized. Some tips include:

• Annual oral exams and teeth cleaning by a certified dentist.
• Establishing a habit of correct flossing and brushing, at least twice a day
• Flossing and properly brushing after each meal.
• Drinking water after meals.
• Stop smoking and decrease or eliminate usage of any tobacco products.

Food

Certain diets and food intake may also help minimize the chances of bleeding gums:

• Vitamin C: cures scurvy, which can cause abnormal gum bleeding. Excellent sources include citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits.
• Vitamin K: has coagulation properties and can help ward off gum bleeding. Excellent sources include bananas, spinach, and Swiss chard.
• Water: drinking after meals can help wash food remnants from the teeth and gum so bacteria-causing plaque is less likely to form. It is important to note that juices and sodas may not have the same effect, as they contain sugars that can detriment oral health.
• Fibrous fruits and vegetables: due to the high fiber content, these food products give an "exfoliation" effect that moves debris from teeth and gum surfaces similar to the effects of a toothbrush. Examples of such foods include strawberries, apples, and celery. It is important to note, however, that fibrous fruits and vegetables cannot replace teeth brushing and flossing.

Bleeding gums can indicate more than just a problem with your oral hygiene habits. If left unchecked, poor dental health can lead to serious complications with your health, especially heart problems.