From Your Hygientist

A registered dental hygienist (RDH) is a licensed health care professional, oral health educator, and clinician who, provides preventive, educational, and therapeutic services for the control of oral diseases and the promotion of oral health.

Promoting Positive Change

Motivating patients to take ownership of their oral health by establishing and maintaining good home care practices, is the primary focus of our hygiene program.

Keep your smile for a lifetime!

Young or old, the fundamentals of a healthy, beautiful smile are the same: brush and floss every day, eat properly, and visit your registered dental hygienist at least twice a year. Swimming is the #1 sport most likely to cause dental injuries!

Ask a Question - Summer Edition

Is sugar that bad?

Dental caries are caused by sugar. It makes no difference whether it is refined sugar, unrefined sugar or honey. They are all the same when it comes to causing tooth decay. Because of their stickiness, "natural" foods sweetened with honey are often more dangerous than other sugar-containing foods.

When you eat or drink sugar, the bacteria in your mouth combines with the sugar to create an acidic environment. Over time, this acid attacks the tooth enamel and leads to decay. When eating or drinking sugar, keep two things in mind:

1. How OFTEN you eat sugar. (frequency)
2. How LONG it stays in your mouth. (duration)

This means that it is probably better for your teeth if you ate a lot of sugar over a relatively short period of time, and cleaned your teeth, than if you kept a few pieces of candy in your mouth all day long.

The danger of sweetened drinks is often underestimated. Soft drinks often contain as much as 11 teaspoons of sugar per serving, according to the American Dental Association. In addition, soft drinks are also acidic. Switching to the diet versions contain less sugar but still contain phosphoric acid and citric acid, which can erode teeth over time.

Though fruit and fruit juices are excellent nutritionally, they can also be a significant cause of decay. Both contain citric acid and juices may also contain sugar additives. Unsweetened fruit juice may have no added sugar, but fruit juice has natural sugars in it. If your child is always sipping juice between meals, the teeth are being coated in sugar over and over again. Again, the issue is the frequency of contact and the duration of its presence in your mouth. Drink all the juice and eat all the fruit you want, but do so in a finite amount of time and then clean your teeth!

A balanced and nutritious diet is good for your dental health. Get in the habit of reading labels when you shop for groceries: honey, molasses, glucose, fructose, maple syrup, corn syrup, dextrose are all types of sugar. When you do eat sweets, there are ways to avoid harming your teeth.

1. Avoid sticky sweets - they cling to teeth and are hard to brush away.

2. Eat sweets with a meal, not as a snack. The increased flow of saliva during a meal helps to wash away and dilute sugar.
3. Brush after eating sweets. If you can't brush, at least rinse with water, eat an apple or raw vegetables or chew a piece of sugarless gum.
4. Check to see if liquid medicines such as cough syrup have sugars. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to give you sugar-free medicines.
5. Water is the best drink to have between meals, and an extremely important part of daily nutrition! Water is the only liquid that should be kept bedside for those who get thirsty at night

With good dental hygiene and proper attention to diet, anyone can keep their teeth for life!

About the Doctors
Ralph I. Jacobs Jr. DDS
Dr. Gerard T. Ortner