If you’re a patient or a regular reader of this blog or follow us on social, you already know that we’ve never been big fans of ultraprocessed food. Scratch that last word. We prefer to call them “products” instead. After all, by the end of their manufacture, many...
You can tell fall is coming by the shorter days, cooler nights, and changing leaves — or by the grocery shelves suddenly full of products that no reasonable person ever thought would be made better by pumpkin spice. But beyond the pumpkin spice cookies and...
We talk a lot about nutrition here at Rehme Dental Care. That’s because what you eat — and what you don’t — plays such a big role in tooth/body, mouth/body health. It’s the foundation. Dentally, a steady supply of sugars and other refined carbs helps...
Ten years ago, the idea that diet influences gum health still wasn’t emphasized much in mainstream dentistry. Yet a growing body of research was already starting to show that eating more nutrient-dense foods and few refined carbs could measurably improve...
The holidays bring plenty of wonderful things – twinkling lights, festive music, gathering with family and friends, giving and getting gifts, hot cocoa in front of a lively fire. But coming in winter, they also take away something crucial: the amount of...
A recent study suggests that vegetarian diets promote better health, based on the fact that vegetarians were found to have higher salivary pH levels. Because oral pH is a factor associated with good oral health, the authors concluded that “healthcare...
“Diet, often considered as a lifestyle factor, ” as an editorial in the journal Nutrients once put it, contributes to the development of many chronic conditions including obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome,...
Your gums are constantly defending against harmful bacteria. If that defense system gets overwhelmed, inflammation sets in. One of the key players in that inflammatory process is an enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase-9, or MMP-9 for short. Think of MMP-9 as...
“Without sugars,” say the authors of a 2015 paper on the relationship between diet and tooth decay, the chain of causation is broken, so the disease [dental caries] does not occur (Sheiham 1967). So, it is clear that sugars start the process and set off a causal...
When it comes to sugar and oral health, most people seem to think about only the impact on the teeth. Sugars – and many starches, too! – are the favorite food of decay-causing bacteria, after all. But these fermentable carbs also fuel chronic...
Many thanks to our friends at Fremont Natural Dentistry for letting us share this post with you from their terrific biological dental blog. You can view the...
Hear the word “scurvy,” and you might think of pirates or sailors from long-ago times. You certainly don’t think about the illness – caused by extreme vitamin C deficiency – as something that affects anyone today, at least not in highly developed...
When you’re a kid, Halloween usually means only two things: costumes and candy! Lots and lots of candy! So. Much. Candy. It’s not just all the sugar that can be a fright. Many treats also come packed with artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, and other...
Ask the average person to name nutrients that are essential for good oral health, and you’ll probably get answers like calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin C. They’re important, to be sure – but so are others, including magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc. A trace...
Dark chocolate is definitely one of the more tooth-friendly options when it comes to sweets. It doesn’t stick to the teeth like gummies or caramel or nougat. It’s less acidic than hard candy and doesn’t remain in the mouth as long. It usually contains less sugar...
It’s hard to overemphasize just how much the food you eat affects oral health. A diet that’s 1) centered on whole food with lots of fresh produce, lean meats and fish, and healthy fats, and 2) low added sugars and refined grains (think white bread, pasta, cookies...
Humans are hard-wired to like sweet flavors, and for millennia, it was an attribute that served us well. For our hunter/gatherer ancestors, being able to taste sweetness helped them know which foods were ripe, nutritious, and safe to eat. They learned to seek out...
Even though more dentists have moved away from filling teeth with mercury amalgam, the dental industry still uses up to 322 metric tons of dental mercury every year. And every year, as much as 35 tons of it gets released into the environment, much of it in dental...
It’s hard to imagine the holidays without baked goods. Besides, as we’ve noted before, biologically, we’re hardwired to love sweets. Yet both sugars and the highly refined flours used in your typical baked treats spell trouble for teeth, not to mention the rest of...
When you’re a kid, Halloween usually means only two things: costumes and candy! Lots and lots of candy! So. Much. Candy. It’s not just all the sugar that can be a fright. Many treats also come packed with artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, and other...