Cutting Down on Sugar for your Summer Diet

Summer diets may be about getting swimsuit ready, but there are a few more benefits to cutting down on sugar and eating healthier.  While the post-holiday season is when most people pledge to start a new diet, by spring the New Year’s resolutions are often all but forgotten and the majority are back to eating carbs and sugar.

 The summer months are especially filled with sugary temptations, be they the sweet BBQ glaze at  backyard cookouts, that favorite 4^th of July Apple Pie, or the quart of ice cream stocked in the freezer.

Now you don’t need to forgo all summer treats, but cutting down on sugar could save you from another cavity found during your next teeth cleaning.

Here are a few tips to help you cut sugar from your daily diet:

• Look out for added sugar: It seems like a no brainer, but many foods and beverages that appear healthy and claim to be ”all natural” often contain processed sugars.. Be sure to check the packaging to make sure no sugar has been added to the natural ingredients.
• Drink more water: Not only is it extremely important to stay adequately hydrated through the summer – but rinsing your mouth with water after eating particularly sugary foods is a great way to ensure that plaque doesn’t build up quite as quickly. Additionally, dry mouths are the perfect environments for cavities to form – especially after eating.
• Grill the veggies, too: Evening barbeques are one of the best things about summer. In addition to chicken and burgers, throwing some veggies on the grill with olive oil and herbs is a great alternative to the sweet marinades that you might be putting on your meats
• Make your own popsicles: These nifty kits are cheap, easy to use, and let you know exactly what’s going in to your icy treat. Load them with fresh fruits to get a sweet taste without processed sugars.

Making a few simple changes can cut down on sugar intake and help you achieve that beach ready body, along with a cleaner brighter smile through the summer!

The Future of Dentistry: Will technology change the way we brush our teeth?

If you’re one of the many people who forget to floss, you may have a lucky break coming your way in the near future: nanoparticles. These tiny substances – composed of compounds like calcium phosphate and silica for oral health purposes – could revolutionize the way we look at teeth cleaning.

According to a recent article in MedGadget, when researchers at University of Rochester and University of Pennsylvania developed drug-releasing nanoparticles, they noted that they’re “engineered with a positively-charged outer segment to bind to negatively-charged sites on plaque biofilms and tooth enamel, effectively anchoring the particles in place.”

In essence, the nanoparticles can attack the plaque. Imagine if you had way to keep plaque from building up and causing cavities that did not involve brushing and flossing daily?

These particles have benefits outside of their convenience in application. In a head-to-head study against a free drug that wasn’t bound to nanoparticles – “the drug-loaded nanoparticles were four times more powerful in destroying the bugs (Streptococcus mutans, in this study) than the free drug alone. They attributed this fact to the ability of the nanoparticles to adhere and deliver the drug in a controlled-release fashion, targeting [specific] sites of bacterial growth (biofilms) to deliver higher concentrations locally.”

Don’t throw away your old brush just yet though. As with all new, innovative products – there’s a catch. Research is still limited to the particles benefits, and there are a number of unanswered questions regarding the safety of ingesting these particles – or having them congregate in areas outside of the mouth. Many are worried that, due to their tiny size, the nanoparticles may end up attaching instead to other organs once swallowed. What’s to stop them from attaching to biofilm elsewhere in the body, and combatting the good bacteria?

At this stage of research and development it is believed that these tiny robot cleaners will first infiltrate the world of traditional dentistry – cavity filling, localized medicine delivery and dental implants – but eventually the scope of technology will soon broaden. Researchers hope the innovation will include “Taking high quality images of your mouth with lower levels of radiation,” and even the “delivering local anesthesia (no more long needles!) or providing painless, quick orthodontic services.”

In an effort to provide Artistic Dental patients with the latest treatments in dentistry, we are always looking at what is in development. Nanoparticle research is still in its infancy, but we will be watching and learning what we can. In the meantime, we continue to do all we can to provide our patients with a clear understanding of their treatment options and the best oral care available.