How Healthy Teeth Help You to Stay Healthy

The relationship of these teeth to general health and efficacy was valued in a general long before vitamins or focal infections were heard of. Toothaches were inevitable as colds, and horse dealers and servant buyers inspected the teeth of the purchases before buying. But only in recent times has attention been given to the care and preservation of the teeth.

Dental Caries

Early studies of this origin and prevention of dental caries indicated that there might be one causative factor but further results show that the challenge is a complex one, with diet, heredity, internal secretions, mechanical aspects, and oral hygiene of greatest significance.

Diet and Dental Caries

There’s now general agreement that diet likely is the most significant single factor in the maintenance of audio, healthy teeth, and that an adequate diet is the most crucial through the period of most rapid growth. McCullum and Simmonds conclude from an experimental study that rats which are stored to a deficient diet during part of the developing period have decay that is early and teeth, although a decent diet is supplied later. In the days before viosterol was developed and before cod-liver oil had been widely used, McCullum also reported that in the time of entering faculty 9 percent of children who were breastfed for at least 6 months had dental caries, 22 percent of children who were fed on cow’s milk or on milk combinations, and 27 percent who had been fed oatmeal water and other prepared foods. This would indicate that the foundation of health is put very early in life, but it seems that the period is also of fantastic importance in this aspect. The emphasis is now being placed upon the right diet during pregnancy.

Significant though diet is, there doesn’t appear to be any single dietary factor which is responsible for dental caries. Magnesium and phosphorus, vitamin D, which regulates the use of these minerals from the body, and the two minerals found in teeth and bones, are clearly essential. Of these, calcium and vitamin D have been thought to be of significance: but the work seems to imply that magnesium is of as good if not greater significance than calcium. Certain vegetable milk and fish foods are rich sources of calcium and phosphorus. Vitamin D is likely to be deficient in foods that are natural throughout winter months but is administered in the form of vitamin D milk cod-liver oil, or viosterol. Orangeville, ON Dental Care | Family and Aesthetic Dentistry | Dr. Kokonas, B.Sc. D.M.D

Kids have been denied candy due to the belief that glucose is connected to dental decay, and certain studies carried out in institutions for orphans in which the diet is strictly controlled suggest that the prevalence of dental caries is directly associated with the amount of carbohydrate from the diet. Cereals, where this grain’s hull has been removed, seem to have an unfavorable influence and investigators believe that oatmeal leads into the formation of caries.

Divergent opinions regarding the relation of diet to dental health leave one rather confused. No one dietary element is responsible for resistance but different elements are necessary for the correct growth and soundness of tooth. For practical purposes, a diet, comprising some other form of vitamin D or liberal amounts of milk, orange juice, fresh fruits, vegetables, as well as for kids cod-liver oil, may be depended upon to provide the nutritional requirements of the teeth.

Cleanliness

It is frequently said that”a clean tooth .” Whether or not this is accurate depends upon the definition of cleanliness. The statement is correct if cleanliness implies freedom from germs. But with bacteria constantly within the mouth and in the food we eat, it is not possible to get the teeth.

The mechanism of corrosion is via the action of acids produced by bacterial decomposition of meals, first upon the tooth and then upon the softer dentine of the tooth. The activity of the acid on the tooth structure can begin in any crevice, irregularity, or break in tooth. The amount of acid and decomposition formation is best when there are accumulations of food substances. In reality, it is between the teeth, where it is hard to prevent accumulations of food that rust most frequently starts. Although cleanliness of their teeth is the only element in the prevention of dental decay, as well as the one that is most important it’s not without significance.

Some clarification of this part of the problem was given by recent studies of these bacteria found in the mouth. If a specific germ known as Lactobacillus acidophilus occurs in volume caries develop with great rapidity. This is because these bacteria act upon carbs, particularly sugars, on and around the teeth to form acids which dissolve the enamel and the dentine. These studies have proven that when men have an excessive number of lactobacilli in their mouths, the number of caries can be reduced by the elimination of sugars and easily fermentable carbohydrates from the diet.

It currently seems that certain compounds applied to the teeth may neutralize the acids formed by the action of germs upon carbs and so reduce caries. Some of these chemicals are currently being included in so”ammoniated” toothpaste.

Fluorine and Dental Caries

During the past many years investigations have taken another turn. It was determined that the only chemical difference between carious and non-carious teeth is the fact that carious teeth comprise an element which is present in minute amounts in the bones and teeth, less fluorine. This was accompanied by an evaluation of the fluorine content of the drinking water in areas in which they’re prevalent and areas in which dental caries are infrequent. A difference in fluorine content was discovered. From such studies, it’s been concluded that the existence of roughly 1 part of fluorine per 1,000,000 components of drinking water causes a decreased prevalence of caries. Fluorine in this amount causes some mottling of the tooth.

Proceeding on the basis of this information, several investigators have experimented with the application of fluorine to the surface of the teeth of children. Within this analysis, Knutson and Armstrong reported the use of two percent sodium fluoride solution into the teeth resulted in 40 percent caries within a period of a year in 289 children then developed in 326 controls. No healing effect was noted on teeth in which caries existed. This usage of fluorine for the prevention of dental caries is a promising field of the investigation but it’s still in the experimental phase.

Other exceptionally significant studies are those in which sodium fluoride in minute amounts has been added to the water supplies of several cities which have low fluoride content. In case this should prove successful in preventing caries, then it’ll be a great forward step in the control of the prevalence of human diseases.

Which other elements play a part in determining the health of teeth is evident in the fact that some persons remain immune from caries no matter how jagged the diet or just how damaging the mouth, while some develop caries even though the diet, as far as we could tell, is completely adequate and the upkeep of the mouth perfect. One of those factors will be heredity, and also the operation of the glands of internal secretion may be another.