Calcium vs. Sugar

Dr. Johansen cautioned against being lulled into thinking that sugarless gum is really devoid of tooth-decaying sugar. "Sugarless gum isn't sugarless. It' is sucroseless. If you look at the label, you will see that it says, on most of them, 60 percent carbohydrates. That can be just as bad as sugar. The bacteria that cause decay can survive and multiply on those carbohydrates."

And those bacteria are the reason why a good diet isn't quite enough to keep your teeth in one piece - and in your mouth - for as long as you need them. You have to keep them clean. Unfortunately, as Dr. Nara commented, "Most people keep their underarms cleaner than their mouths."

Dr. Johansen told us, "You have to keep after your teeth. I always say to my male patients, just because you shaved yesterday doesn't mean you don't have to shave today. You have to keep at it every day. the main thing is to keep the bacteria from growing on the teeth. and that's done by brushing. You should brush your teeth at least after brakfast and after supper. You should brush right after you eat, too. and you should floss your teeth once a day."

Dr. Nara has similar advice. "You can't allow the bacteria to become attached to the teeth. You have to keep them what we call 'free floating.' That's done by using a brush to clean your teeth. It's a matter of oral cleanliness. You're not going to find healing in a mouth that's laden with plaque. Plaque is a combination of food particles and bacteria. If it's on the teeth too long, calcium precipitates out of the saliva and it gets hard. You can remove plaque from your teeth before it calcifies by simply brushing.

Use the Right Brush

Finally, Dr. Knapp told us a little more about keeping the teeth clean: "If you brush your teeth and you feel a tingling afterwards on the gums, that doesn't mean that you've gotten them extra clean. It means you may have damaged some cells. When you wash your arm, it doesn't tingle afterwards, does it? This is the sort of common sense thing that people don't think about. If you start to floss, you should do it correctly. Use unwaxed floss so the floss will spread out. Use the floss like a shoeshine rag across the teeth. Flossing and brushing should control plaque.

"Also, a lot of toothpaste has chemicals in it. I tell my patients, if you can't pronounce it, don't put it in your body. If you look at a tube of toothpaste, you'll sometimes see artificial sugars listed, too. These artificial sugars have been shown in some studies to cause changes in the tissue cells, and to slow down healing as much as sugar can and possibly more. We tell them to avoid toothpaste - to use baking soda, salt or just plain water."

By far, that was probably the most pleasant visit with a dentist any of us has ever had, not to mention the most pleasant visit with three dentists! Of course, these are three dentists practicing what appears to be a dentistry of the future, a dentistry that is concerned with healing rather than drilling. Naturally, you don't have to wait until your dentist becomes more interested in preventing tooth decay than treating it. They're your teeth! Take care of them and the dentistry of the future will be yours. Today.

Reprinted from PREVENTION, October, 1978