THIS YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE MY HEALTH BLOG #56

BLOG #56 THIS YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE MY HEALTH BLOG
Dr. Spiker Davis D.D.S.  713-781-2800    Dr. Matt Guerre D.D.S. 713-781-2800
In collaboration with Dr. John Seger M.D. Cardiologist 713-791-9444
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2021 IS OVER!!! YEAH. I’m really looking forward to 2022 and hopefully being finished with Covid. That being said I always sit down on New Year’s Day and make my resolutions for the new year. I hope you do the same and so I thought I would touch base on some resolutions involving oral health since the health of your mouth affects your overall health what should we do? Let’s look at some basic options for 2022.

In addition, to exercising and losing weight it seems like to me we should all focus on oral health. Since it is the window to your health let’s start there. A quick list would start with all the basics listed below.

1. Eat right-as a dentist this means eliminating or cutting back drastically on SUGAR-You have heard me say many times that we all eat too much sugar. America is now #1 in sugar consumption with each person consuming almost 200 pounds per day! That is almost 3/4 of a pound PER DAY! The American Heart Association recommends eating 6 teaspoons or less per day. My goal as a dentist would be to eat only about 2-3 teaspoons per day. Many labels on food only show how many grams are in a serving. Just so you will know, 1 gram is 4 teaspoons so your limit should be about 12 teaspoons per day. Check the labels!
2. FLOSS-Most of us have been told to floss but most of my patients fall short in this department. Why do we need to floss anyway??? The main problem is that every time you eat, food and particles get in between the teeth and under the gums and the toothbrush will not get there! That is why so many people get cavities in between their teeth and gum disease. The old saying in the dental field is “YOU DON’T HAVE TO FLOSS ALL OF YOUR TEETH, JUST THE ONES YOU WANT TO KEEP”. And trust me, you want to keep them all! Floss daily after dinner and if possible after every meal.
3. BRUSH WITH A SONIC TOOTHBRUSH-the latest electric/sonic toothbrushes today are just unbelievable. I have timed myself many times brushing with a regular manual toothbrush. If I haul buns, I can get about 100 strokes per minute and dentists say that you should brush for about 2 minutes=200 strokes. The Sonicare electric sonic toothbrush does about 31,000 strokes per minute and the Oral B sonic toothbrush does about 51,000 strokes/rotations per minute.
4. SCRAPE YOUR TONGUE-One of the things we have learned is that when we breathe and eat, bacteria get into the folds of our tongues. This could be where the Covid virus is hiding in the early stages. From the tongue, the bacteria or virus can spread to the gums, teeth, or get swallowed and go other places. For that reason, it is advisable to scrape your tongue or brush your tongue when brushing your teeth. You can do this with your toothbrush, a spoon or there is an actual tongue scraper to get from the drugstore or your dentist.
5. RINSE WITH LISTERINE-there are lots of mouthwashes, but Listerine has been shown to kill 99% of all the bacteria and viruses (including the Covid virus) when you rinse and hold for at least one minute.
6. RINSE WITH SPOREBIOTICS-Sporebiotics are a type of probiotics and they offer better survivability and shelf-life compared to probiotics. They offer health benefits such as clearing toxins from the blood, improving cholesterol, and even boosting metabolism. I have one gum specialist friend that breaks open the capsule and puts it into a glass of water. He then rinses his mouth for a minute and swallows He claims that this increases the level of good healthy bacteria in the mouth which helps to prevent gum disease and cavities.
7. NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS-My dad was a medic in the army, and he taught me at an early age that most people do not eat a well-balanced diet and therefore do not get enough of the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that we all need. In a perfect world, we all eat a perfect meal 3 times a day, but in my world, I fall short a lot. For that reason, I have been taking supplements since I was a teenager. I think most Americans fall into my category and I think most people should take supplements. The question is which ones? I recommend consulting with a nutritionist/pharmacist/physician or your dentist and doing a diet survey to see what you eat in a weeks’ time and where your shortfalls are and then either change your diet or supplement to make up for what you are not getting. From a dental standpoint, it is very important to take a multivitamin, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Calcium.
8. SEE YOUR DENTIST-For the last 2 years many of my patients have decided that they do not want to go to the dentist because they are afraid of catching the Covid-19 virus. For that reason, many of my patients now have decay and or gum disease. In case you didn’t know, gum disease is now considered co-morbidity for the Covid. In other words, if you have gum disease you are much more likely to die or be on a ventilator if you catch the virus. Research has shown that going to the dentist is much safer than almost anywhere else you can go. In our practice we have not had even one patient that we know of, show up with Covid or spread the Covid to any of our employees. Most of the ones that have died have not been in for their exam and cleaning in several years or they have been confined to a nursing home (you know that they do a great job of flossing and brushing their patients’ teeth). So, if you haven’t been to your dentist, it is likely that you are creating more risk and more damage than if you went. Call your dentist today and get in for an exam and a cleaning before you create more problems. It is safe to go to your dentist!

SUMMARY-As you have heard me say many times, the mouth is the window to your health. If your mouth is unhealthy there is a very good chance that your overall health is not well either. Sugar is a very damaging compound and your oral hygiene is crucial to your overall health. New Year’s resolution-NO SUGAR, FLOSS, BRUSH WITH SONIC TOOTHBRUSH, TONGUE SCRAPE, EXERCISE!

RANT AND RAVE-It is very obvious that sugar can be extremely dangerous to your health. There is not one health benefit to eating sugar that I can see other than it really tastes good. Almost every health organization and physician of any kind recommends that you either remove sugar from your diet or at least limit your intake on a daily basis. So please do me a big favor and put on your big boy or big girl pants and be strong when it comes to eating sugar. I really hope that you have a very Merry Holiday season and stay safe.

“THE MOUTH IS THE WINDOW TO YOUR HEALTH”. BRUSH AND FLOSS TWICE DAILY, AVOID SUGAR FOR 2021 AND SEE YOUR DENTIST AND PHYSICIAN ON A REGULAR BASIS.

Davis D.D.S. spiker@thepaleodentist.com  John Seger M. D.  Malt Guerre D.D.S.

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