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Dental Trivia

Tips From The Makati Dentist, , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Did you know that Teeth are the hardest substance in the human body?

  • During the 18th century, in Europe and America,urine was a main ingredient in toothpaste because the ammonia in it is an excellent cleaner  Ammonia is still incorporated in most toothpastes today.

  • Jaw muscles can contract with a force as great as 55 pounds of pressure on anterior incisors, and 200 pounds of pressure on back molars.

  • Regular dental cleanings can help prevent heart attacks.

  • Tooth Decay is the 2nd most common disease in the U.S. after the common cold.

  • 50’s heart throb James Dean had no front teeth! He wore a bridge.

    don't look at ma teeth!

  • When it was time for Washington to sit for his presidential painting, the artist, Gilbert Stuart, thought that his dentures were too short, making his cheeks and lips look sunken. He padded Washington’s cheeks and lips with cotton to restore the natural lines to his face. But instead of looking better, Washington has an overstuffed, grandmotherly appearance in his portrait.

     

    mmble pfft pfpff...

  • New born babies have no caries forming bacteria. Infact, it is the babies mother who transmits the plaque forming bacteria by blowing on food before feeding and kissing the babies mouth.

  • There was a sudden massive surge of patients with tooth decay the year coke was launched.

  • The popular practice of placing a cap on toothbrush head actually favors bacterial growth on it as moisture is increased in enclosed containers favoring the growth of bacteria.




  • Always replace a toothbrush after you had a cold, sore throat or notorious infections. The bacteria plant them on the toothbrush which can lead to reinfection.

  • The electric chair was invented by a dentist. Hhhmmmm makes you a wonder a whole lot about the Dentist’s Chair doesn’t it?

  • Aztec dentists would mix iron fillings, water and navel lint, bake and insert it in the cavities to seal it.

  • A poll conducted in Michigan showed that Republicans, Protestants & women brush their teeth more often than Democrats, Catholics & men. 2% of those polled said they don’t brush at all.

  • There is someone whose job includes squeezing Prince Charles’s toothpaste onto the royal toothbrush. That someone is Michael Fawcett, the prince’s personal valet.

  • Dentists rate big (61%) in ethics poll for honesty and trustworthy AGD Impact pg 8 March 2004.

  • Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six (6) feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.

  • Academy of General dentistry, the average person only brushes for 45 to 70 seconds a day, the recommended amount of time is 2-3 minutes.

  • Two ‘Fs’: Fluoride (use fluoride toothpaste daily) Frequency (avoid frequent snacking between meals)…..this is the “practical way to help avoid dental decay.

  • Dentistry is affordable:
    Dentistry:  $50 Billion
    Pet food:  $50 Billion
    Hair care:  $100 Billion
    Gambling (legal):  $300 Billion

  • More than 300 types of bacteria make up dental plaque.


Amalgam fillings are hazardous to your health.

Dental Products, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Imagine this.  Mercury, one of the most toxic substances in the earth, leaking daily in your mouth and into your central nervous system.

Not a good scenario, right?

Well, if you are one of the million people who has one or more amalgam fillings, chances are, you are ingesting mercury right now as we speak.

According to some studies, there is evidence that mercury continually leaches from amalgam fillings at a rate of about 10-50 times the safe limit (0.28 microgram/day) set by the US Public Health Service.

As a dental patient, you should know that Amalgam contains mercury; and mercury toxicity has been linked to birth defects, multiple sclerosis, fatigue, Alzheimer’s disease, Autism, ADHD, depression, anxiety, reduced immune function, antibiotic resistance, and impaired kidney function. It is also a potent killer of white blood cells and that proper removal of amalgam fillings will restore white blood cell counts to healthy levels. There is also evidence that the number of T-cells (an important part of immune defenses) decreases substantially when amalgam fillings are placed in the mouth, but increases again once the fillings are removed.
So how does the mercury leak into your body?  

Many studies have found that chewing releases the mercury from your amalgam fillings.  The mercury vapors released easily end up in the pituitary glands in your brain.  Autopsies performed in the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found out that cadavers who have amalgam fillings has 3 times more mercury in the brain and 9 times more in the kidneys compared to cadavers without amalgam fillings (We ingest and inhale mercury everyday from the foods we eat and from the polluted air we breathe).

The common bacteria found in our mouth and intestines convert mercury into methylmercury, a compound that is 100x more toxic than the elemental mercury. Methylmercury easily passes the blood-brain barrier as well as the placental barriers.  Therefore, several governments around the world prohibit dentists from placing amalgam fillings on pregnant women.


Mercury is also linked to heart diseases, trigeminal neuralgia, psychiatric symptoms (and in very low concentrations) like depression and irritability; chronic fatigue, kidney damage and hearing loss.

There’s no doubt in our mind that amalgam fillings pose serious threat to our health whether we show symptoms of mercury toxicity or not.  Therefore, our dental clinic in Makati maintains a “Mercury-free” practice.

Now, if you are a health card holder, you are entitled to free amalgam fillings according to the amount you pay the health card company.  Amalgam fillings are very cheap and easy to place in teeth.  But as an educated patient knowing the hazards of having amalgam fillings, would you choose convenience over your health?

For your health’s sake, have those old amalgam fillings replaced now.


Here’s an interesting fact, though:  the American Dental Association maintains that amalgam fillings are safe; contrary to the declaration of the EPA or the Environmental Protection Agency that amalgam is considered a hazardous material!  However, when the ADA was faced with a lawsuit regarding the use of amalgam fillings, it was quick to file a defensive statement: “The ADA owes no legal duty of care to protect the public from allegedly dangerous products used by dentists.”

I still have to read a journal regarding the stand of the Philippine Dental Association on the use of amalgam fillings.  I reckon that we still don’t have a unified stand on this as proven by the different health card companies ‘requiring’ dentists to use amalgam fillings for their client’s teeth instead of the tooth-colored composite resins.



Green Tea and your teeth

Tips From The Makati Dentist, , , , , , , , , ,

Skip the coffee and make yourself tea.  Green tea, that is.

A recent research published in Preventive Medicine has shown that people who drink at least a cup of green tea a day can keep their teeth until their old age.  However, adding sugar or cream to your tea is another story.

One explanation may be because the warmth of the tea helps wash out your mouth.  But one may argue, what about coffee?

Coffee gave poor results as people usually drink their coffee with sugar and cream, which may lead to tooth decay in the long run.

But unsweetened coffee didn’t give beneficial effects as green tea.

It seems that green tea has a bactericidal component called catechins that kills bacteria that causes tooth decay and gum disease.  It also kills the germs that causes bad breath. What’s more, it also contains fluoride which strengthens teeth.  You now have more reasons to choose green tea over coffee.

So go ahead and brew yourself some tea.  It may save your teeth.

On porcelain crowns

Cosmetic Dentistry, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Many Philippine dentists, including Makati dentists like myself, dislike the metal behind most porcelain crowns, and for years, we had to make do with chair-side troubleshooting to make the artificial teeth look more natural. This was because it took too much time to return these crowns to the dental laboratories that manufacture them. Continue reading On porcelain crowns →