It is our goal to keep our patients healthy through education and information on topics such as nutrition and supplements, healthy diet and exercise regimens, sleep and relaxation techniques, and the latest trends in green dentistry and eco-friendly oral hygiene products. This blog is your source of information for your health, your looks, and your life.
Summer barbecues. Pre-game tailgating. These are things that most guys thoroughly enjoy.
Why? Because all of these things involve food – lots of food. Let’s face it, football fans aren’t exactly the skinniest demographic. Hot dogs, chicken wings and burgers are standard fare.
Weight aside, what happens when you eat more than average amounts of food? More than average amounts of stomach acids are produced. For someone suffering with acid reflux, eating too much (especially acidic foods) can intensify the condition. In addition, the damage that stomach acids reap on your teeth can be catastrophic. The juices in your stomach have an extremely low pH which wears away at the higher natural pH of your enamel. When the enamel is worn down and the inner, sensitive part of the tooth is exposed, your whole mouth is opened up to unhealthy possibilities such as tooth decay, tooth sensitivity and chipping or breaking.
While choosing the right types and amounts of food to eat is your job – identifying early signs of acidic tooth damage is Dental Health and Wellness Boston’sjob. Schedule a free consultation so Dr. Jill Smith and her skilled professional staff can see if acid reflux is affecting your teeth. We’ll map out a plan of attack and collaborate with your physician to try and stop the flow of stomach acid. We have homecare strategies and remineralizing dental products that can slow the effects of acid on your teeth. If the damage has already been done, certain procedures such as dental crowns might be right for putting a healthy smile back on your face.
See how one of our patients with acid reflux-related dental damage benefited from Crowns.
Peter
Peter's new smile
Before and After
Before (top) and After (bottom)
Peter knew his teeth were thinning over time, and wanted to protect his teeth and make them healthy again. Peter’s before photos show the classic signs of severe erosion on his front teeth due to acid.
Read the rest of Peter’s story: Real Stories – Peter
With summer coming up, the last thing we want you to do is worry about what picnics and barbecues are doing to your smile. So pick up that hotdog, and dig into those chicken wings – just remember to come in for regular checkups and let us know if you have experienced any acid reflux-related symptoms.
For more on acid reflux:
GERD/Acid Reflux – More Than Heartburn
Dental Damage from Acid Erosion
Men’s Health Month at Dental Health and Wellness Boston
For Dental Health and Wellness Boston, May is men’s month! This month we will be focusing on men’s health and dental issues, as well as highlighting what Boston dentist Dr. Jill Smith can do for even the most masculine smile. When it comes to guys, one discussion topic rises to the top: food! Today, Dr. Smith shares an article from Men’s Health Mag about some everyday snacks that could help keep your smile healthy and fresh:
Cheese
Though relatively high in calories (about 113 for a 1-ounce cube of cheddar), cheese has been shown to strengthen your teeth and protect them against staining. Here’s how it works: Excessive acid in your mouth can cause erosion of your enamel, which can lead to sensitivity, pain, and darker teeth. But eating cheese before a glass of wine, a sip of cola, or a bite of a tomato can help neutralize that acid. “The advantage of cheese is that the fatty film that leaves on your enamel after you ingest it protects you against acids and stains,” explains Dr. Laura Torrado, D.D.S., F.A.G.D.
Broccoli
A 2010 lab-based study in The European Journal of Dentistry showed that after being exposed to an acidic drink like cola, enamel erodes half as quickly when exposed to broccoli beforehand. Researchers explain that the iron in broccoli may help form a protective acid-resistant film on teeth.
Pears
Many fruits, like lemons, limes, oranges, and most berries, are actually quite bad for your teeth because they’re high in acid. Pears, on the other hand, are terrific for them. A South African study measured the acidity of plaque and found it became less acidic after eating a pear. Not only do they have a high water content—which helps dilute the sugar—but they also stimulate the flow of saliva, buffering your teeth against acid.
Sugarless Gum
Chewing gum helps dislodge food particles that become lodged between your teeth. Just make sure to choose a type like Trident that has the sugar substitute xylitol. Unlike other sugar substitutes, xylitol can’t be broken down into an acid by bacteria in your mouth.
While these are all helpful tips for caring for your smile, when it comes to healthy teeth – nothing beats the professional care that comes from a dentist. At Dental Health and Wellness Boston, Dr. Jill Smith and her talented team of professionals can do more than simply clean your teeth. As a Boston Dentist with a whole body approach to dental health, Dr. Smith has all the services and procedures to make you feel as good as your smile looks. Some of the specialized services include dental care for cardiac health, acid reflux, damaged teeth from eating disorders and so much more. Schedule a free consultation today to talk to us about getting your smile in great shape!
For more on what DHWB can do for you:
An Affordable Dental Plan for a Healthier You
Sedation Dentistry for Anxiety Sufferers
I was smiling yesterday, I am smiling today and I will smile tomorrow. Simply because life is too short to cry for anything.
Santosh Kalwar
7 Aspects of Dental Hygiene That You Should Know About
You can probably think of a few excuses as to why you forgot to brush or floss your teeth. OK, maybe you can think of a lot of excuses to choose from: you were too tired, you had already brushed twice that day, you didn’t really eat anything that would hurt, or you used the toothbrush on the dog and couldn’t find another…really? Whatever the reasons for not brushing were, you can bet your bicuspids that the reasons for getting off the couch and picking up your toothbrush are much more important.
The next time you choose the pillow over the sink, think of this: Bad oral hygiene can lead to periodontal (mouth) disease – which may have more effect on the rest of your body than you know. According to Dan Matthews, DDS, a Texas dentist, “We used to think the infection would just stay in your oral cavity, but now we know it travels throughout the body, causing systemic inflammation and damaging the arteries”.
This is only the beginning of how inept oral care can affect the rest of your body. As a Boston dentist with a whole body approach to dentistry, Dr. Jill Smith knows the dangers that accompany gum and dental issues. This is why she is happy to share this article from Total Beauty that gives 7 good answers to the question: “Why is dental hygiene so important?”
Reason 1: You have a lower risk of having a low-birth-weight baby
Studies show that women with gum disease are six to eight times more likely to deliver prematurely or deliver babies of low birth weight, says San Diego-based dentist Christopher J. Walinski, DDS. “The bacteria appears to retard fetal growth by releasing toxins into the woman’s bloodstream that reach the placenta and interfere with fetal development,” says Walinski.
Reason No. 2: You have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke
“Inflammation destroys the inside lining of arteries, making them thinner and more vulnerable to rupture,” Matthews explains. “If the artery wall breaks, little cells start rushing to that spot to stop bleeding, which creates a blood clot that leads to a heart attack.”
Reason No. 3: You have a lower risk of getting diabetes
“Periodontal disease is a red-flag risk factor for the predecessor of diabetes: insulin resistance,” says Matthews. “When someone has gum disease, they have an inflammatory state in their mouth, which releases cells that are destructive to the body. This compromises the body’s ability to control sugar.
Reason No. 4: You are less likely to develop respiratory issues
“[Respitory] problems are all caused by inhaling bacteria into the lungs,” says MoneezeMujtaba, DDS, a general dentist based in Pembroke Pines, Fla. “The bacteria that causes periodontal disease can also be inhaled and increase the risk of these infections.”
Reason No. 5: You are less likely to lose your teeth or get dementia
Progressive gum disease can not only end up costing you your teeth, but pose a greater risk: developing dementia. Someone with gum disease prior to age 35 has four times the risk of developing dementia in his or her lifetime…
Reason No. 6: You have a higher chance of fertility
A study by the University of Western Australia in Perth and Fertility Specialists of Western Australia found that women with gum disease took an average of seven months to become pregnant — two months longer than the average five months it takes for women without gum disease.
Reason No. 7: You are less likely to get a brain infection
Although this is pretty rare, Matthews says it’s possible for an untreated abscess in your mouth to cause an abscess or infection in your brain. “The reality is that an abscess in your mouth is so close to the brain that the infection can travel there,” says Matthews. “And it’s very difficult to treat the infection if it moves into the brain. This is rare, but it does happen.”
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Even with all of these things to think about, you don’t have to worry. That’s because the professionals at Dental Health and Wellness Boston are prepared to help you maintain healthy oral hygiene for good cardiac health, restful sleep, healthy pregnancy and the lessening of diabetic gum symptoms.Schedule a free consultation now to make sure you start your journey toward oral health in time.
Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu.
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.
Karen McLendon-Laumann
Apr
24
Eating for Life Alliance
As a Boston Dentist who is committed to full body wellness, Dr. Jill Smith is constantly educating her patients towards pursuing healthier lifestyles. One focus of Dental Health and Wellness Boston is treating the dental consequences of those struggling with eating disorder such as bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating. This is why Dr. Smith is excited to partner with Eating for Life Alliance in an attempt to further the education of those at risk of such dangerous and personal disorders. Eating for Life Alliance (ELA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational resources to colleges nationwide on the prevention and treatment of eating disorders.
Dr. Smith recently had a chance to ask Eating for Life Alliance CEO and co-founder Dawn Hynes some questions:
Dr. Smith: How did ELA get started?
Dawn Hynes: On a professional level, we have years of experience providing eating disorder treatment, consultation, and advocacy. Our personal investment comes from Whitney’s [Whitney Post, President and co-founder] history of an eating disorder that started in college; in the absence of proper recognition and treatment, this disorder continued for almost two decades. I worked as a volunteer for a suicide hotline, and saw that a huge percentage of those calling were local college students dealing with an eating disorder. These experiences resulted in ELA’s leadership to commit to being part of the solution, by working to support college students with these issues.
Dr. Jill Smith: How did you decide on the name for your organization?
Dawn Hynes: The name Eating For Life Alliance was chosen purposely for its positive focus – ideally we would all be eating and thinking about our bodies in a way that supports life, not its destruction. We are professionally and personally invested in bringing about a real and lasting change to eating and body image pathology.
Dr. Smith: What is ELA currently focusing on developing within ELA?
Dawn Hynes: We are working on raising funds for ELA. We just finished up several outreach events through eating disorder awareness week. We have many projects we are currently working on, including a webinar series, educational videos for college providers, and expanding our social media reach.
Dr. Smith: What does ELA hope to accomplish?
Dawn Hynes:In short, we want to help college students live lives free of the debilitating influence of eating disorders. We hope to provide valuable information from leading experts to college students, their families, and university staff on prevention and treatment. Our hope is that by providing this information, we can be part of the movement of professionals working to get people into effective treatment programs soon after a disorder presents itself – which will offer the highest probability of lasting recovery. We also want to help create campuses equipped to prevent eating disorders through awareness and education efforts.
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We commend Dawn Hayes and Whitney Post on their success and efforts toward such a worthwhile cause. Eating disorders are very common in college aged people and early intervention is so important to treatment and limiting the far reaching health effects from these disorders. When it comes to the dental effects of eating disorders, hydrochloric acid from the stomach will, over time, wear away at the enamel of your teeth. Dental Health and Wellness Boston works with patients to make sure their teeth are protected during this fragile time, and Dr. Smith ensures that patients are provided the best dental recovery plan possible to reclaim their smiles.
Schedule a free consultation today to talk with us about your situation and what your treatment plan might look like. When talking to our compassionate staff, you can be assured that anything you share will be kept confidential.
For more Information about Eating for Life Alliance:
ELA Collaborators
ELA Speakers Bureau
For more Information about the dental effects of eating disorders:
Dental Health and Wellness Boston – Eating Disorders
Women’s Health Mag Sheds Light on Adult Eating Disorders
A Holistic Approach and Resources for the Treatment of Eating Disorders
Dental Effects of Bulimia and How Dr. Smith Can Help
We’ve all heard it before (especially as children): “Drink your milk to get strong bones.” Our parents were right about that. What they may not have known about are the benefits that calcium provides for our teeth. Now while the tooth itself is almost unaffected by our intake of calcium, the health of our teeth depends on the reason we drank milk in the first place: bones. Healthy teeth come from healthy gums, and healthy gums come from a strong jawbone.
As a dentist who understands the importance of whole body wellness, Dr. Jill Smith would like to share an important statement from The Vitamin and Nutrition Center:
Like other bones, [the jawbone] gradually surrenders calcium for needs elsewhere in your body if you’re not consuming enough. As your jaw weakens, your teeth loosen, creating gaps where bacteria can invade, triggering infection, inflammation, and bleeding. In fact, the condition of your teeth and gums can be a window to the overall health of your bones. Not surprisingly, the first signs of osteoporosis are sometimes found by your dentist.
So now what? Do we really have to drink massive amounts of milk in order to keep our teeth healthy?
No, of course not. Adults don’t want to drink just milk. Aside from the calcium we infuse into our lattes and teas, we still seem to be deficient in this category. What’s grown-up enough for adults to drink, but still tastes great? How about a smoothie?
Try this recipe from EatingWell, which is full of calcium, as well as many other beneficial nutrients:
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups fresh berries
- 3/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
- 1 tablespoon toasted wheat germ
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation
- Place berries, yogurt, orange juice, dry milk, wheat germ, honey and vanilla in a blender and blend until smooth.
Nutrition
Per serving: 432 calories; 3 g fat (2 g sat , 0 g mono); 15 mg cholesterol; 77 g carbohydrates; 20 g protein; 7 g fiber; 250 mg sodium; 617 mg potassium.
Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (175% daily value), Calcium (63% dv), Potassium (18% dv), Magnesium (16% dv).
While smoothies and other calcium-rich foods are great ways to maintain a healthy smile, nothing beats the care you receive from a dentist. At Dental Health and Wellness Boston, Dr. Jill Smith and her staff are so much more than your biannual teeth-cleaning destination. Experts in cosmetic dentistry (whitening, anti-aging), orthodontistry (including invisalign), whole body dental wellness and more, they have all the tools to strengthen your smile. Please contact us for a free consultation and Dr. Smith and her staff will work with you to deliver a smile you can be proud of.
Mags Reveal Shocking Statistics and Tips
It’s not often that a sports magazine and a fashion publication agree on something. With seemingly opposite target audiences, a topic overlap is incredibly rare. Recently, however, both ESPN and Vogue have issued articles which cover a topic that every human being with a pillow can relate to: the benefits of sleep. As a Boston dentist who treats people with sleep disorders such as sleep apnea I found these articles about sleep and the benefits of a good night’s rest to be interesting and wanted to share them with you.
From ESPN the Magazine:
Does extra sleep boost athletic achievement?
In preliminary research on swimmers, tennis players and members of the Stanford football team, [Stanford researcher Cheri] Mah kept getting the same answer: yes. And in a study recently published in the journal Sleep, she and her colleagues have jolted the world of sports analytics by essentially showing that you can get safe, legal HGH just by shutting off the lights. Over three seasons, from 2005 to 2008, the scientists looked at 11 Stanford basketball players. For two to four weeks, the Cardinal kept to their normal schedules. Then for five to seven weeks, they watched what they drank, took daytime naps and tried to sleep for 10 hours every night. After increasing their daily rest, the players sprinted faster and said they felt better in practices and games. Their aim got better too: Their three-point shooting jumped 9.2 percentage points, and their free throw percentage increased by nine points.
What’s behind the results? Well, scientists don’t fully understand what happens while we sleep, but they know this much: Some of our genes act as internal clocks and release hormones according to cycles called circadian rhythms, which are triggered by darkness and light and alternate over 24-hour periods. When we mess with these rhythms by not getting enough sleep, our metabolism of glucose (which gives us energy) declines, and our level of cortisol (which causes stress) increases. Further, sleeping for long stretches is naturally anabolic: During deep sleep, our bodies release growth hormone, which stimulates the healing and growth of muscle and bone.
Read the rest of ESPN and Vogue Agree: More Sleep Makes All the Difference »
Another Reason to Stop Smoking!
It’s long been known that the use of tobacco products has been associated more with men than with women. It makes sense then, that men are diagnosed with oral cancer (a known byproduct of tobacco use) more than twice as often as women. Tobacco products contributing to the risk for oral cancer include cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or snuff, and cigars; and the effects of smoking reach much farther than your mouth. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for approximately 443,000 deaths, or 1 of every 5 deaths, in the United States each year.”
Scarier still, according to Dr. Abraham I. Sinnreich, an otolaryngologist (ear nose and throat doctor) with ENT and Allergy Associates, is that even if you aren’t using tobacco products, you aren’t out of the woods when it comes to oral cancer. In addition to tobacco product use, risk factors to develop oral cancer are known to be family history, prolonged alcohol use, and the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Early diagnosis and early detection are the keys to successfully surviving oral cancer. According to Dr. Sinnreich, signs of oral cancer include pain in the mouth that doesn’t go away, a lump or thickening in the cheek, numbness of the tongue or other area of the mouth, voice changes, trouble chewing or swallowing and a perpetual sore throat.
The most important thing for people (especially men) to do in order to prevent oral cancer is to get a dental exam every six months, recommends the Academy of General Dentistry. At Dental Health and Wellness Boston, Boston Dentist Dr. Jill Smith and her staff are fully equipped to offer you a free, painless, oral cancer screening as part of your regular check-up and teeth cleaning. If you think you or someone you know might be at risk of oral cancer, call our dental office today for a complimentary oral cancer screening. It may save your life.
For more information on oral cancer or other services we offer:
HPV Making Headlines: Linked to Epidemic of Oral Cancer
Dental Health and Wellness Boston Services
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