cavities

Xylitol: The Natural Sugar that Actually Protects Your Teeth Against Decay

Xylitol. It’s time that you began ADDING this sugar to your diet. What is xylitol? Xylitol is a natural sugar; it is even made by the human body when it metabolizes ingested carbohydrates. Xylitol can be used as a sugar substitute ( a cane sugar substitute). It is safe for diabetics, as it has a low glycemic index. It is also lower calorie than traditional sugar.  We harvest most xylitol today from corn stalk fiber.

In dentistry, research has shown that xylitol reduces caries rate. This means that xylitol works to reduce your risk for cavities. Along with brushing, flossing and using fluoride, regular exposure to xylitol will prevent cavities!

How does xylitol work? Xylitol prevents cavities in several ways. One way is that it keeps the pH of the mouth at a level that makes it hard for cavity-causing bacteria to degrade your teeth. Xylitol also helps prevent plaque accumulation on the teeth. Oral bacteria thrive in the presence of sugar, but not in the presence of xylitol.

You can cook with xylitol. So go ahead, make a lower calorie version of chocolate chip cookies with it. Or, begin chewing xylitol gum. We have xylitol sugar packets at our office. Ask to sample them. Or, buy a pack of xylitol gum from us and fight tooth decay! 5 exposures to xylitol daily will prevent cavities. Just make sure you don’t ingest more than 50g a day.

Our office is always striving to help our patients PREVENT dental health diseases. We want to keep our patients at their optimal oral health, and xylitol can help!

Keeping you healthy,

Dr. Frankel

 

 

 

in Adult Dental Education / Dental Tips / Services

Surviving Leftover Halloween Candy – A Dental Health Guide

Don’t let Halloween treats play tricks on your teeth.

While all that mouth-watering candy is delightful to the taste buds, it’s important to have a post-Halloween plan to keep your pearly whites in tip-top shape. Sugar is not only food for our bodies, it’s food for the bacteria in our mouth that cause cavities.

Before you delve into that remaining Halloween candy, here is a list of common candies and their negative impact on your teeth:

Hard Candy

This type of candy typically lingers in your mouth, leading to potentially hazardous consequences. You are essentially bathing your teeth in sugar and feeding that harmful bacteria – yikes, now that is scary!

Sour Candy

The acidity of sour candy can weaken tooth enamel, making them more prone to decay. Acids of any kind, such as those found in beverages, are also bad for the enamel on your teeth. Intake should be limited and remember to always rinse your mouth out with water after ingestion.

Chocolate

If you have to choose the “lesser of the evils,” then chocolate is probably your best bet. However, chocolate still contains sugar and sticks to teeth.

Sticky and Gummy Candies

Unfortunately, sticky and gummy candies are some of the worst candies for your teeth because they are harder to remove and may stay longer on your teeth. This gives cavity-causing bacteria more time to do its dirty work.

Popcorn Balls

Kernels can get stuck between your teeth, so be sure to floss after you enjoy this popular fall treat. Remember, it’s not just about the teeth – it’s so important to keep our gums healthy as well!

in Adult Dental Education / Pediatric Education

Dr. Frankel Volunteers at Give Kids A Smile Day

On Friday, February 5th participating states celebrated Give Kids a Smile Day. In Cleveland, Case School of Dental Medicine was a proud provider of dental services to area Cleveland City School District children. Dr. Frankel acted among the volunteers at Case, teaching students and guiding them as they performed dental cleanings, xrays and sealants to children in the community.

Dr. Frankel believes in giving back to the community in many ways, especially through her profession. As the poster in the image above reads “Dental caries in the single most common chronic childhood disease”, and it is important to intervene early in life.

Whether Dr. Margaret Frankel is providing care in her office or out in the community, she truly values the health and well-being of her patients. Dental caries is a bacterial infection. It is so important to keep your family’s mouth healthy. Richards Frankel Dentistry welcomes children and families, and we strive to keep our patients at their optimal oral health.

in Adult Dental Education / Pediatric Education / Press / Services

Your Sugar Intake and Its Relationship to Your Dental Health.

Did you know that added sugar is in most processed foods today? And, it is no surprise that sugary beverages and sugar in foods can cause major dental issues including decay and dental erosion. Added sugar has become such a health issue that the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services and Dept. of Agriculture created updated nutritional guidelines. The updated guidelines are below:

The American Dental Association News reports that “the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture released updated nutritional guidelines Jan. 7 calling for Americans to limit their intake of added sugars.” The updated guidelines “advise limiting the intake of added sugars to less than 10 percent of total calories consumed each day,” marking the “first time the guidelines have recommended a quantitative limit on a specific type of food.” The guidelines essentially limit our sugar intake to 12 teaspoons a day.

Sugar doesn’t just cause cavities in the mouth, it also melts away enamel ( the hardest material in the body), leaving the inside of the tooth exposed and sensitive. Extra sugar is bad for our overall health and our dental health.

If you have any concerns about your teeth, and if you think the amount of sugar in your diet is causing dental issues, call our office today: 440-442-4477.

For information about diet and dental health, visit MouthHealthy.org.

photos by:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2575460/The-sugary-drinks-snacks-ONE-without-breaching-new-guidelines-daily-intake.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/lemons-burn-holiday-calories-article-1.275144
http://www.mysticalraven.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/person-eating-a-sugar-cube.jpg

 

in Adult Dental Education / Dental Tips / Press / Services

Prenatal Vitamin D Intake and Your Child’s Cavities!

pregnant

Recent research released and published online in the “Annals of Epidemiology” shows a strong correlation between Prenatal Vitamin D intake and caries rate in children. The risk of cavities was lower in the mothers with higher Vitamin D intake during pregnancy.

 

Pregnant women should make sure they are getting enough Vitamin D during pregnancy, as it has many benefits to both mother and baby. Among those benefits may now also be a lower risk of cavities in your children!

Just a little Wednesday wisdom!

Best, Dr. Frankel

Frankel_20

in Adult Dental Education / Pediatric Education

New Recommendations for Infants and Expectant Mothers!

 

I want to share some INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION with you that was recently released by the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Infants need to visit the dentist, and infants need fluoride to make their teeth stronger! Even though baby teeth do fall out to give way to permanent adult teeth, they need to remain healthy as they can affect the health of the adult teeth underneath. And, pregnant mothers need to have a healthy oral environment so that they reduce the amount of dangerous bacteria they pass onto baby.

 

The Chicago Tribune‘s Danielle Braf reported on new recommendations for expecting mothers and children, and several were regarding oral care for both mothers and infants.  According to the Tribune’s article, The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that infants are exposed to fluoride toothpaste once their teeth begin to come in, and that babies ingest  fluoridated tap water rather than bottled water, and that mothers receive routine oral health assessments during pregnancy.

 

  • How do you administer fluoride toothpaste to infants? Rub a grain-of-rice sized toothpaste on an infant’s teeth and let it stay there. Fluoride helps strengthen the tooth and prevents cavities.
  • Use fluoridated tap water in sippy cups, or in bottles. Bottled water doesn’t contain fluoride.

In 2013, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended that routine oral health assessments should be done during pregnancy, and they published that dental X-rays also are safe throughout pregnancy.

Pregnancy can result in changes in gums and teeth, and cavity-causing bacteria can be transmitted from mother to baby. About 40 percent of pregnant women in the United States have some form of periodontal disease, including inflammation of the gums, cavities and periodontics, so it’s important that they continue to have dental work done throughout their pregnancies. Root canals and filling cavities is permitted and encouraged during pregnancy!

I hope this helps you take care of yourself and your little ones!

Best, Dr. Frankel

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in Adult Dental Education / Dental Tips / Pediatric Education

Our Office Has Modern Technology!

diagnodent

 

Patients, meet the Diagnodent! For those of you who are not yet acquainted with the Diagnodent, it is an amazing little piece of technology that our office uses! The Diagnodent (manufactured by Kavo) is a safe and accurate cavity detection device. The Diagnodent laser can detect a cavity before an xray can! This noninvasive device allows the dentist to find cavities just as they are beginning so that our staff can properly monitor, or treat the cavity at it earliest stage.

 

The Diagnodent can help preserve tooth structure-  if a cavity is found early, less tooth structure can be removed when a filling must be done. Furthermore, the Diagnodent acts as a “laser set of eyes” for the dentist, and can help confirm the diagnosis of tooth decay. At Richards Frankel Dentistry we use the Diagnodent to monitor teeth so that if a cavity forms, we catch it early!

Along with digital xray, we keep a close watch on each and every tooth to make sure our patients’ teeth stay healthy!

From your modern dentista,

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in Adult Dental Education / Services

A link Between Exercise and Poor Oral Health?

Running

According to research recently reported in The New York Times published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports that too much exercise could have a negative effect on our teeth. We all know that regular exercise is good, but new research suggests that too much exercise could, in fact, be bad for our oral health! 

 

Why might this be? Well during heavy exercise, salivary flow decreases, as this study showed. Saliva has a protective factor that helps prevent tooth decay, so if there is less of it, the teeth are more susceptible to cavities. Furthermore, the study also tested the pH of the athletes saliva, and it showed that prolonged exercise causes the saliva to become alkaline. Alkaline saliva promotes the development of tartar ( calculus) on the teeth.

So, if you, or your friends family members are professional athletes, distance runners, or work-out for long periods of time, regular dental visits are important! Furthermore, it is always best to drink water while exercising in order to stay hydrated, but also to help keep the pH of your mouth balanced and less dry. pH Neutral, non-flavored water is best during a workout. 

Regular exercise is great, but if you frequently train long hours, make sure you visit your dentist regularly so that any cavities can be diagnosed early!

 

Happy exercising,

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Dr. Frankel

“final stretch” by Pablo Manriquez is licensed under CC BY

in Adult Dental Education / Dental Tips

Pregnant? Why you should see the dentist!

baby

It is extra important to keep your mouth healthy while your pregnant and have a baby! Here’s why: The oral health of a pregnant woman, and subsequently a new mom can directly impact the health of her baby. Mothers transmit their oral bacteria to their babies, who are born with no oral bacteria. Good oral health for Mom, especially during pregnancy, reduces her own bad oral bacteria and thus reduces what she transmits to the baby. Cavities and periodontal disease are caused by bacteria, so you don’t want to pass the “bad bugs” that causes those diseases to your baby.  It is important to understand that a lack of oral hygiene during pregnancy presents a risk to your baby. Care for mom=Care for baby!

Today it is also even considered safe to have dental x-rays while pregnant. “Teeth cleanings and dental X-rays are safe for pregnant women. OB-GYNs are being advised to perform routine oral health assessments at the first prenatal visit and encourage their patients to see a dentist during pregnancy”, according to recommendations issued by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists  in a July 26 statement.

X-rays? You may be skeptical. Dental x-rays have produced only very small amounts of radiation for a long time. A full set of x-rays, even with the older film technique, produced as much radiation as standing outside for 10 minutes. Today’s digital radiography produces approximately 1/8 of that already low amount. Dental professionals step out of the room during exposure because radiation is cumulative. Protective shields covering abdomen and thyroid are used on all patients, and has been standard for decades. Richards Frankel Dentistry would only take x-rays on pregnant patients if it is absolutely necessary.

The American Dental Association (ADA) also states in a news article that  “…local anesthesia (with or without epinephrine) are safe during pregnancy.” So, if you need a cavity filled while your pregnant, don’t worry you can be numb!

The ADA also writes that “…conditions requiring immediate treatment, such as extractions, root canals, and restoration (amalgam or composite) of untreated caries, may be managed at any time during pregnancy. Delaying treatment may result in more complex problems.” Take care of your mouth now and help to prevent disease in your baby’s mouth! Richards Frankel Dentistry will weigh the risks of dental treatment vs. non-treatment while a woman is pregnant, as we would never put a mother, or her baby at risk!

Best, Dr. Frankel

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“Baby Shoes” by Meagan is licensed under CC BY

in Adult Dental Education