Smile with Confidence: A Comprehensive Guide to Dental Health and Care

Tag: food choices

Sugary Foods

Halloween and Dental Health

It’s almost here… Halloween! The trick-or-treating. The parties. The costumes. The ghouls and goblins. The candy. Oh, the candy. It’s a time of year that can bring your kids loads of fun… and, if they’re not careful, loads of cavities. Naturally, as a parent, you want your children to have the time of their lives choosing their costumes, getting all ready for that big party or night of going to door-to-door with their friends. But you don’t want them to overdo it on the candy, and not just because you don’t want them getting all hyped up on sugar, either. You know that all that extra sugar can lead to cavities. And what’s a cavity? It’s nothing more than tooth decay. If you’re a parent who’s dreading Halloween for its notorious ability to bring on the tooth decay, try following some of these dental health tips to help keep your kids’ teeth healthy no matter how much candy they get.

Health Benefits of Fruit

We’ve come a long way toward understanding that we need to eat leaner, favor white meat like fowl and pork, and to eat more fish.  Though few people will ever seek nutritional counseling to ensure they are eating properly, reading the labels and seeking out info about our favorite foods on the internet has helped out immensely to eating healthier.  In fact, years ago, people were a little lackadaisical about their teeth – if they lost a tooth here or there, they often just lived with the gap, unless it was right out front where the world could see that missing tooth.  People often got a gold tooth to replace their missing tooth, and that was considered a status symbol.  And as teeth were removed because they were broken or decayed, people obtained a bridge, then eventually dentures.  For some, dentures never fit properly and spent more time soaking in a cup, only to be used for church and social occasions.

Boy, how things have changed.  Through our dentist and hygienist we are way savvier about practicing good oral health, as that dental team encourages their patients to take care of their teeth to keep their natural teeth for as many years as possible.

drinking water, healthy

Are Hot Drinks Bad for Teeth?

For most people, that wonderful warm trickle of coffee or tea down our throats gets us up and at ‘em and ready to take on the day.  But sometimes that first swallow of java, is not pure enjoyment, especially if you wince in pain when the warm liquid hits your teeth.  While your warm morning beverage may hit the spot for waking you up, it may be hitting the wrong spot if you have a sensitive teeth.

Are Stained Teeth Unhealthy Teeth?

You want white teeth and a dazzling smile, so should you forego those blueberries so that your pearly whites stay that way?  Or drop that jolt of java from your morning routine because it might stain your teeth?  And, if you unwind with a glass of cabernet sauvignon, surely your purplish lips and tongue must mean that your teeth are also being stained, right?  Do you need to give up all these treats?  If you are concerned about teeth staining and want to learn more about teeth whitening you should contact a dentist who does teeth whitening.  A top Clearwater cosmetic dentist will answer all of your teeth whitening questions and will suggest ways to keep you teeth healthy and white.

Health Benefits of Garlic

Garlic gets a bad rap, unless you are an Italian mama and use it liberally to give robust flavor to your special pasta sauce.  This funny-looking vegetable with its rotund shape, delicate parchment-like skin and appendages that resemble toes, has long been the brunt of cartoons (i.e. two people – one with a discernible breath of air being emitted, the other beating a hasty retreat.

Health Benefits Beyond Belief

Whether you get your daily dose of garlic in the food you eat, or via supplements, be advised that you are improving your health with every dose you ingest.

Garlic Supplements

The method of consuming garlic for health benefits is really a personal preference.  Of course, it is easier to just buy the supplements to ensure you are getting the recommended dosage for optimal health benefits.  The recommended dosages for garlic use are listed below.  Though they are considered “safe doses”, before embarking on any supplement use, check with your doctor to ensure it does not counteract with existing health conditions or prescription/over-the-counter medications you are currently using.  Ask your health practitioner for the recommended dosage, brand, and, if the supplement contains an odor or not.

Suggested Garlic Regimen

Benefits of Eating More Dairy Products

The older you get, the more you realize that the meals you had growing up were maybe not so bad after all.

While Mom may not have had the resources about nutrition that are available to you today, especially via the internet, she really did know her stuff when you think about it.  So, where did Mom learn about the types of foods that make up the food pyramid – perhaps in her home economics class?  If you look back on meals when you were a youngster versus the suggested food groups to include in your daily diet, you might just concede that Mom was a smarter cookie than you ever gave her credit for.

For example, she filled your tummy with nutritious food, based on the five recommended food groups, a chart which really has not varied much through the years, and which guidelines are currently found at www.choosemyplate.gov and are listed below:

  • Vegetables (including legumes/beans);
  • Fruits (all fruits and juices);
  • Grains (mostly wholegrain and/or high-fiber cereal and bread);
  • Protein (lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts/seeds and legumes/beans); and
  • Dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese and/or alternatives, mostly reduced fat).

Indeed you are what you eat, and a diet consisting of these foods will give you the nutrition needed to stay healthy from youth to old age.

Best Diet to Prevent Bad Breath

It’s hard to resist raw chopped onions on a Coney dog or a big burger with a thin slice of raw onion, but you’d better hope you don’t have to socialize too much after downing these tasty treats.

Battling Bad Breath

As a general rule, bad breath is related to what we drink or eat.  As to beverages, alcohol is sure to give you bad breath, coffee does as well.  Different cultures have spicy foods, and people who consume these foods on a regular basis, will experience odors, not only emanating from their mouth, but also from their pores.

Listerine, a leading mouthwash manufacturer, says there are five top foods that will give you bad breath – of course, we are familiar with onions and garlic being the biggest culprits, and even canned tuna is no surprise, but horseradish and dairy foods also make your mouth feel a little funky.

Dairy products as a source for bad breath may surprise you, but, while dairy products may be good for your teeth and bones, they make your mouth feel unclean.  This is because naturally occurring bacteria from your tongue feeds on the amino acids in dairy products (milk, cottage cheese, yogurt and cheeses), resulting in a foul odor.

What Causes Tooth Sensitivity?

Perhaps you’ve been noticing lately that downing an ice-cold glass of milk leaves you reeling in pain … then it seems that wincing with your mouth open causes your teeth to hurt.  Tooth sensitivity just didn’t happen overnight it is a gradual process that begins when the movement of fluid located within tiny tubes in the dentin (the layer of tissue found beneath the hard enamel that contains the inner pulp of the tooth),  begins to cause nerve irritation.  When the hard enamel on your teeth gradually begins to wear down, especially as you get older, or your gums start to recede, these tiny tube surfaces are then exposed causing you to wince after eating, drinking hot or cold beverages, touching your teeth, or even just exposing them to cold air – suddenly a short, sharp pain and aching thereafter occurs.

Health Benefits of Strawberries

Strawberries look, smell and taste good, they are good for you as well.  You know you can’t resist picking one up and popping it into your mouth – neither could the Romans back in the day.  They used the wild variety of this popular and healthy treat known as a strawberry, for a large variety of medicinal purposes, such as alleviating inflammation, fever, kidney stones, gout, whitening teeth and taming bad breath … and much more.

Strawberries for dental hygiene

The Romans used strawberries to combat bad breath – so how does that really work, and is it effective?  Well, the ancient Romans discovered that the strawberry with its seeded exterior, and sweet and sensational taste, can remove the tartar from your mouth, thus causing a fresh and sweet breath.

Foods That are Good for Teeth

If you were to sample a group of people in a large crowd and ask them if they were 100% happy with their teeth the answers would vary. Some might say they don’t like the shape of their teeth, they may mention having too many cavities that resulted in bad fillings, or more commonly the whiteness of their teeth isn’t good enough. Across the board the issues would be cosmetic, but there is a deeper issue below the surface of the teeth. It’s important to be aware of the foods that you consume because it does impact the overall appearance of your teeth. Here you will learn about some foods that are good for your teeth.