This questionaire could work for people where I live. Yes, it asks about teeth. See how you do on the Arkansas Residency Application. (In reality, high class people in Arkansas! And no matter where you live, if you want to take good care of your teeth, start now to fight gum disease.)
If your gums and teeth are healthy, there’s a good chance your whole body is healthy. Likewise, if they are unhealthy, it can be an inroad to other medical problems in the future.
There are at least 500 different strains of bacteria that can live in the plaque on your teeth. Brushing your teeth helps control those bacteria on the outside of your teeth, but for those areas you can’t easily reach - like between your teeth - you need to take extra measures. Of course, I’m talking about flossing. And about making sure you make the effort to get the backs and insides of your teeth when you brush.
In your mouth, those 500 types of bacteria cause gingivitis, with its symptoms of swollen, red gums that bleed easily. Without proper dental hygiene, the infection can progress into periodontitis, which affects the tissue and bone around the teeth.
Unfortunately, those nasty little beasties don’t stop there. They can migrate to other parts of the body, including the valves of the heart! Gum disease has been found to double a person’s risk of having a fatal heart attack.
Believe it or not, diabetes has been found to be linked to gum disease as well. It raises the sugar in the body and makes controlling blood sugar difficult. One recent study showed effective treatment of periodontal disease reduced the amount of insulin some diabetics needed.
One other health problem that has been linked to poor oral health is a strain on pregnancy. Women with gum disease often give birth to premature, low birth weight babies. In fact, poor oral health increases this risk by seven times!
The bottom line is - take care of those pearly whites and those gums that support them!
Gingivitis is a step between healthy gums and gum disease. Here is a picture of gingivitis. Healthy gums are characterized by firm tissues with a stippled texture similar to the skin of an orange. Gums should not have redness or swelling, and the shape should form a scalloped pattern along the gum line. There should be no discomfort or bleeding.
When gums bleed with regular brushing or flossing, it indicates that gingivitis is developing. Gums with gingivitis appear puffy and soft, and lose that stippled appearance, and become slick looking. The shape of the gumline can become distorted, too.
Gingivitis can be reversed with good dental hygiene. If it progresses to gum disease, it can’t be reversed, but you can halt or greatly slow down the damage to the gums.
Gingivitis is a condition that takes place before full blown gum disease takes place. If you have this disorder, it makes sense to treat it before it advances into gum disease.
The cause of gingivitis is usually bacteria. These bacteria in produce toxins, which in turn cause inflammation of the gums. To get rid of gingivitis, you need to kill these microbes before they have a chance to multiply and cause more problems.
Regular tooth brushing and flossing is the first step in the treatment of gingivitis. In many cases, though, the bacteria get entrenched and you need to increase your efforts. The healing combination of essential oils found in Oram Plus makes a great alternative to conventional toothpaste. Just put a few drops on a clean toothbrush and brush as usual.
It’s a good idea to get a new toothbrush every so often. The old ones wear out and can harbor germs. Do choose a soft bristled brush for best results.
Our kids, who have been super disciplined about caring for their teeth since their recent dental visits, have been setting a timer for 3 minutes, and brushing until it rings. What a great way to keep that old gingivitis at bay! Follow up with a daily flossing! (By the way, you might want to use a dental floss that is treated with tea tree oil for even more essential oil support.)
Chewing gum is a popular treat for many people. We have one child that would rather chew gum than eat candy. Personally, my jaw gets tired after a while and I have to get rid of it. How did anyone ever get the idea to chew gum anyway?
The first people to chew something similar to chewing gum chewed on oozy sap from trees. The ancient Greeks and the Mayans both had a type of tree that oozed sap that made a good substance to chew on for cleaning the teeth and as a bad breath cure. In the part of North America that is now New England, native people were chewing the sap from spruce trees.
The first example of chewing gum sold commercially in the U.S. was made from spruce. Ultimately, however, the “chicle” sap from the Sapodilla tree, which was used by the Mayans, became the preferred sap for making commercial gum. Paraffin wax was used for chewing for a while, but if you remember those wax lips and scary teeth we used to get back in the ’60’s, you know that chewing on wax is not near as pleasant as chewing gum.
Chewing gum makes the breath feel fresher for a while, but it is certainly not a bad breath cure! If you like to chew gum, though, make sure you get one sweetened with xylitol and not with sugar. We all know sugar damages your teeth. You might look for special chewing gums that contain herbs like neem or nutrients like zinc gluconate.
If you have gum disease, the best bad breath cure is to fight the disease with a program of natural gum care and daily flossing.
Do you want to see some really gross pictures of gum disease? Here’s another page that explains the disease as well as showing more pictures. Granted, these cases are extremely advanced. Still, it makes sense now to take care of those gums so this doesn’t happen to you.
Here’s one last link for you. This one shows the progression of gum disease, starting with healthy gums, and advancing through gingivitis and on to periodontal disease. According to this web page from the University of Manitoba, there are eight warning signs that you have gum disease.
1. bleeding gums
2. red, swollen, tender gums
3. gums pulling away from the teeth
4. pus between the teeth and gums if you press on the gums
5. loose permanent teeth, or spaces widening between the teeth
6. a change in the fit of your bite or changes in the way a partial denture fit
7. chronic bad breath
8. itchy gums
If these symptoms sound like you, it would be a good idea to start using a remedy for gum health. Oram Plus is an all natural blend of essential oils combined specifically for the health of your teeth and gums.
Here’s a neat article that tells all about flossing your teeth. Pictures are included. Our kids have been really diligent to floss their teeth since their recent visits to the dentist. I like dental floss for getting stuff out from between my teeth. Toothpicks always feel like they’re breaking off and making matters worse. With floss, I get the good feeling of picking my teeth and knowing I’m taking good care of them, too.
Flossing is an important part of taking care of your gums and teeth. When you brush, you can only reach so far. With floss, you can get to food particles and plaque you can’t reach otherwise. Once daily is generally considered often enough for flossing.
Chronic halitosis causes social agony for millions of sufferers. The psychological implications of being avoided or teased because of your breath has caused many to withdraw from public activities. Is there any way to treat this malady? What causes chronic halitosis anyway?
Bad breath is almost always caused by bacteria that live in nooks and crannies inside the mouth. If you have fissures in your tongue, or pockets under your tonsils, or similar hidey holes in your mouth, these sulfur producing microbes will find them and camp out. Gum disease, with the customary pockets it forms around the bases of the teeth, provides a haven for these bacteria. This is why chronic halitosis is one of the symptoms of gum disease.
Some factors increase the amount of these bacteria in the system. One is having a dry mouth. This is often a side effect of medication. Thick mucous and post nasal drip also contribute to this dryness. Drinking lots of water can make a big difference in chronic halitosis for several reasons. It washes away small bits of food or other impurities that can lodge in the teeth and it keeps the mouth moist.
Smoking causes bad breath, of course, and can contribute to gum disease. It is also thought that high protein diets can contribute to chronic halitosis. In fact, people on very low carb diets tend to develop a certain type of bad breath unique to that diet. Of course, onion and garlic, healthful foods otherwise, leave their own unique aroma, but they don’t cause a chronic bad breath problem.
Many people think that chronic halitosis comes from the digestive tract or the lungs. This is simply not the case. Another mistaken idea people have is that they can keep their breath fresh with very frequent brushing of their teeth. In reality, too much brushing can aggravate chronic halitosis by increasing the dryness of the mouth. Too much brushing can also be damaging to the gums.
The best way to treat chronic halitosis is to treat the underlying condition. If the cause of the bad breath happens to be gum disease, switching from conventional toothpaste to Oram Plus can help heal the gums, resulting in fresher breath.
Here’s an article entitled The Toxic Toothpaste. Fluoride is rated as being somewhere in the vicinity of arsenic and lead in toxicity. That’s why the experts all tell you to use a pea sized bit of toothpaste on your brush. The commercials on TV, however, show a long strip that’s curled up so you can get more on the brush! Looks like they want you to use a lot, doesn’t it?
The problem with using as much as the advertisements show is that it can be toxic, particularly to young children. Yes, fluoride in tiny amounts can protect teeth from decay, but it’s very easy to get too much. This is particularly true in areas where fluoride is added to the drinking water. In fact, it’s a good idea to use a water purifier, such as a reverse osmosis unit, with any city water supply.
A special blend of essential oils makes a safe natural alternative to toothpaste. Make sure your brush is clean and soft. Add a couple of drops to the brush. This is best done by simply letting the drops run out, rather than shaking the bottle. Be sure to angle the brush into the gum line when brushing to treat or prevent gum disease.
Having a handicapped child gives parents an array of problems to deal with. Often, dental and gum health are overlooked as the more urgent matters of health and behavior are dealt with. The result is that the special child often has severe dental problems. It can be no easy matter to deal with them, either. Sometimes general anesthesia is needed to still the child enough for the dentist or hygienist to be able to word on the child’s teeth.
These challenged children often have muscles of the lip, tongue, and cheek that do not move normally. These muscles work through natural chewing to clean off the teeth and gums, but special kids often can’t even do this much. Children with cerebral palsy or defects of the spinal column are some of the special kids affected this way.
Another factor that increases the risk of poor gum health for these children is that they have to be on special diets. Often their food is pureed and/or fed to them through a bottle. This causes the food to stick to the teeth, particularly if the food is sugary. The child’s physical limitations increase the risk of them not getting enough water, too. Drinking plenty of water could help wash that food away.
Finally, many medicines can cause damage to the gums. Anti-seizure meds are in this category, and can cause swollen, bleeding gums. Other drugs reduce the flow of saliva, which is also harmful to the oral health. Many liquid medications are produced in syrup form containing sugar, which of course leads to tooth decay.
Good oral health can help these kids learn to eat and talk. The best way to prevent problems is to start early. Sometimes a dentist will want to meet with the parents of a special child soon after birth, and yearly as the teeth begin to appear.
Diet plays a role in dental and gum health, too. It would be best to get these special kids started off on a non-sugary diet and keep it that way. Watch out for sugar hidden in processed foods, as well as eliminating sweet, sticky foods and snacks. Many sticky sweet foods are natural, like raisins and honey, so watch out about these, too. If sweet foods are served along with the other foods of a meal, they will do less harm.
Finally, by starting young, many parents can train these kids to tolerate having their teeth and gums brushed. Use a very soft brush, and angle it in toward the gum line. A natural essential oil gum treatment doesn’t require the rinsing that over the counter toothpaste does, and would make a great choice for that young ‘un.
Special kids require patience and love at all times. While you will need to be firm, don’t forget they need your love more than anything.