Beyond whitening: Keep your teeth healthy
Keep periodontal disease out of your 20s and 30s
by brianne sanchez
Caring for your chompers means more than picking up a box of Whitestrips every couple of weeks. Especially for adults in their 20s and 30s, who are at an age when periodontal disease sets in.
"Gums receding, a bad taste in the mouth, bleeding gums - people assume these are normal parts of aging, but they're not," said Dr. Chad Wagener, a dentist and owner of Ankeny Aesthetic Dentistry. They're the signs of periodontal disease, most of which don't hurt until the advanced stages.
WHAT CAUSES PERIODONTAL DISEASE?
Bacteria. How do you prevent it? Brushing well and flossing.
For Wagener, brushing "well" means brushing for at least two minutes. (Download Sleater Kinney's "Little Mouth" and brush through that.) Or, he recommends investing in an OralB or Sonicare electric toothbrush (around $100). It'll give you about 31,000 strokes a minute - more than even the most hard core rock can inspire into your nonbionic human arm.
Wagener blames most cavities and tooth decay on our generation's soda addiction.
That means the same Mountain Dew habit that gives you the love handles is eating away at the enamel on your teeth. Even soda with Splenda contains harmful acids.
SCARED OF THE DENTIST?
Don't be. Wagener said technology's improved so much (think: lasers) that many procedures that once required Novocaine are virtually painless.
CAN'T TAME YOUR SWEET TOOTH?
Wagener recommends finding products that use xylitol - a natural substitute that's cropping up all over health food stores. (It's available by packet or pound at Campbell's.) It doesn't damage teeth and actually prevents bacteria from attacking them.
"Your mouth is the gateway to the body," Wagener said. Nowadays, dentists are learning that a healthy mouth is the start of a healthy body. Diseases impact oral health and visa versa. Diabetes can lead to bone loss around the teeth. People with acid reflux might require a prescription toothpaste. A low grade gum infection can cause low birth weight in pregnant women.