I was shocked to learn that tooth decay is not as dangerous as the acidic drinks and toothpaste we are using.
On Thursday morning at the South Anne Arundel Rotary Club we had a speaker from Wooddell & Passaro Dental Group. Now normally this would not be something that I would worry too much about, but this presentation opened my eyes to a danger both to adults and to kids that I believe all of us need to be aware of. I learned:
- Sports drinks are worse for your teeth even that soft drinks
- Acid reflux can increase the amount of enamel decay, cupping and yellowing of teeth
- Dry mouth symptoms does not allow the saliva to do its job in protecting the teeth
Unfortunately our children are drinking more sports drinks than ever before and this not only is affecting their teeth but is also associated with poor bone health, diabetes and obesity. It is also easy to misdiagnose what is happening to your teeth and increasing the amount of brushing with highly abrasive tooth paste is contributing to the problem with disintegrating of teeth in children and adults.
What can you do? Get educated on the subject and the products that we use to clean our teeth and the foods that we consume.
- Limit the acidic drinks
- Use a straw when drinking acidic drinks
- Never drink acidic drinks when a dry mouth is present
- Drink water to rehydrate
- Wait one hour after drinking an acidic drink prior to brushing your teeth.
Would you like to learn more? I learned this information from the Wooddell & Passaro dentist practice in Davidsonville MD. If you would like to hear them speak on this subject, let me know and we will look into doing one of our Parent Workshop’s at Balanced Life Skills on this subject. Both Joe and James were great presenters and I know everyone would benefit from their knowledge.