If you’ve decided to hop on the low-carb or ketogenic diet bandwagon to take control of your health and your weight, congratulations! Eating a diet low in carbohydrates is not just good for your waistline, but it can also help in many other ways, including lowering your risk of heart disease and diabetes and lowering your cholesterol. But while those health benefits are well known, or at least frequently discussed, many people don’t know what effect keto diets – or carbohydrates, for that matter – have on their oral health.
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Patients looking for a seemingly more convenient way to get straighter teeth may soon have another option. With the advent of by-mail orthodontics, a crop of companies have begun to pilot at-home orthodontic kit sales and kiosks in stores and malls. But is this a good idea? After all, we all lead busy lives and convenience is important - but some dentists think this do-it-yourself trend could be very, very dangerous.
What’s more romantic than roses, chocolate and dark red wine? Maybe the ability to not look like you’ve indulged in said wine. But avoiding "wine teeth" is often easier said than done. That’s because that delicious dark red liquid is full of something called tannins. These little particles not only make wine more delicious by making it taste more dry, bitter and acidic, but they also leave behind little souvenirs called "chromogens," which give wine its color – and have the pesky habit of sticking to the teeth.
With spring almost here and warmer weather on the way, now is the perfect time for a spring cleaning - of your mouth! It may not seem obvious, but changing your oral health routine each season is a must to maintain a healthy smile. Here are some things you can do to maintain your oral health this spring.
The results of an innovative new procedure were recently revealed in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. Five years in the making, the procedure was performed on a then-newborn baby (now age 5) who was diagnosed with the condition cleft palate in the womb. Cleft palate is a congenital condition wherein the roof of the mouth (the palate) is split (cleft) due to the palatal shelves failing to properly close during the embryonic stage.
Over the past few years, research has shown that poor oral health contributes to more than just cavities, bad breath and gum disease. It has been found to cause or contribute to everything from heart disease to diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and even stroke. But new research is linking poor oral health - or more specifically gum disease - to the illness lupus.
Your tooth enamel is the hardest biological material in our body - harder than even bone. But despite its strength, it is still susceptible to damage from some surprisingly common culprits. Keeping enamel safe and intact is the best way to maintain the health of your teeth, but many people don’t realize these common behaviors could be putting their enamel at risk.
We all know how important it is to love ourselves - and that includes taking care of our health and hygiene. But many people don’t think of their oral hygiene when they think about self-love. This Valentine’s Day, don’t forget your oral health - it just may be the most important part of yourself to protect.
If you think of how dental technology has changed over the decades from the days of wooden dentures and boar-bristle toothbrushes, it’s pretty astounding. But for all the advances in how we care for and examine teeth, there has not been much change in the way we heal teeth - until now. That’s because scientists at King’s College in London are creating a self-regenerating tooth.
With the New Year right around the corner, many of us are making resolutions to get healthier. But if all you’re planning on changing is your diet and exercise routine, those resolutions may not be going far enough. That’s because in order to have a truly healthy body, you have to have a healthy mouth. Poor oral health has been directly linked to everything from cancer to stroke to diabetes, Alzheimer’s and even heart disease.
When the most recent round of California wildfires began earlier this fall, little did anyone know how devastating the disaster would be - or how hard it would be to identify the dozens of victims of the wild blaze. But a grim form of dentistry - forensic dentistry - is coming to the rescue in a big way.
You know that old saying, truth is stranger than fiction? Well it's not always true, but in the case of these five tooth-related stories it sure is. If you like "news of the weird," check out these five oral health stories that prove sometimes fact really is stranger than fiction.
With a staggering 75 million Americans estimated to have high blood pressure, a new study in the publication Hypertension is calling on doctors and dentists to pay close attention to patients with high blood pressure and periodontitis. The study found that of 3,600 patients with high blood pressure, those who had healthier gums also had lower blood pressure numbers than their counterparts with periodontal disease.
According to research from the University of Central Lancashire School of Medicine and Dentistry in London, patients with periodontal disease could be at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers analyzed brain tissue samples from 10 patients with Alzheimer’s disease and 10 without. Of the samples of those who did have Alzheimer’s, four of the 10 showed signs of lipopolysaccharides associated with periodontal disease in their brain tissue.
You’ve probably heard of - and seen - an overbite before. But a lesser-known bite problem that occurs in only about 10 percent of the population is an underbite. An underbite is what happens when the lower jaw protrudes past the upper jaw. Not only is this type of misaligned bite more noticeable, but it can also unfortunately subject children to bullying and low self-esteem, among many other issues.
There are few dental procedures that strike fear in the hearts of patients like the root canal. The procedure, which clears out infected pulp inside of a tooth and replaces it with synthetic pulp, has earned a reputation of being long and painful. Worse yet, it doesn’t come with a guarantee. Because of the microscopic size of the root canals of the teeth, it can be tricky for dentists to find and clear out (and then refill) all the canals. This means even if the dentist is able to clean out all of the infected pulp, it could still come back. With risks like that, it's no wonder most people aren’t too keen on getting the procedure done in the first place.
Undergoing treatment for cancer can be a scary and stressful ordeal, especially if surgery is required. With so many things to remember and arrangements to be made for before and after care, it's easy to forget important steps along the way. But researchers are now saying that one surprising step in pre-op care could literally be the difference between life and death, post operation.
With 44 million senior citizens on some form of Medicare in the United States (and that number set to nearly double in the next 12 years), ensuring that Medicare provides adequate health care coverage for all beneficiaries is an absolute must. But, when it comes to dental care, some feel that Medicare is completely lacking. That’s because currently Medicare covers just 1 percent of dental care for seniors, requiring them to purchase additional coverage for anything beyond the most basic of care. But now, a group called Demand Medicare Dental is trying to change that, lobbying senators across America to add more vital dental coverage to Medicare - without sticking seniors with the bill.
It’s not always easy being a woman - especially when it comes to your temporomandibular joint. That’s because, according to research, women ages 20 to 35 experience the most severe temporomandibular joint disorder symptoms of any age or gender group.
Earlier this year, the New York Times ran an op-ed about New York City's proposed sugar tax. The article's author spoke with former Mayor Bloomberg about his new Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health, which pairs him with former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Larry Summers to educate leaders around the globe on the importance of adding a sugar tax to help fight obesity. But is a sugar tax really a good way to fight obesity - or is it just more government overreach into our private lives?
