Expert Interview

•The most important thing that the majority of parents don’t understand is that the form and frequency of the sugars are the most important in preventing tooth decay.

•Sitting down and drinking an entire bottle of Coca Cola within 5 minutes is infinitely better for one’s teeth than sipping it over a period of several hours

•Each time ANY CARBOHYDRATE is introduced to the mouth system, bacteria on the tooth’s surface eats the sugars. The waste product of this bacteria is acid and acid eats away the enamel of the tooth. Weakened enamel=super susceptible to cavities

•Parents think that “natural” or “organic” forms of sugar are less destructive to children’s teeth, THIS IS TOTALLY FALSE!!! Giving a child a honey stick, or a fructose sweetened cookie is EXACTLY THE SAME as handing them a snickers bar

•Fructose, lactose, sucrose, etc. are all sugars, thus they have the same effect in the mouth

•Raisins and fruit leathers are of the worst “healthy” snacks to give to children-they are sticky and get lodged in hard to clean out areas and easily cause carries and cavities

•Giving a child a bottle of milk at night is terrible because the salivary and muscular defense systems slow down significantly at night so it is like a constant drip of harmful sugar into the mouth

•The only verbal communication that children have as infants is to cry and scream. Parents often calm them with a bottle or food. This teaches the child that FOOD=COMFORT and that food is a way to cope with trauma

•It also prevents children from properly developing means to cope. Children NEED to cry and scream to be able to develop their own coping mechanisms.

•Pacifiers and bottles change the shape and impedes growth of lower jaw and prevents it from developing the way the parents’ genetics intended, the jaw doesn’t calcify and solidify until age 22

•Form follows function- if you put a shape there, the mouth will conform to it..example: Chinese foot binding

•Water with fluoride in it is BEST

•Teeth that develop without fluoride DO NOT FORM CORRECTLY they are jagged and sharp with grooves and fissures. Contrary to teeth that develop WITH fluoride, the non-fluoridated teeth are not self cleaning. Teeth developed with fluoride ARE self-cleaning.

•Fluoridated enamel is less soluble in acid than hydroxolated (non fluoridated) enamel

•Cavities and carries from when tooth enamel goes into solution

•Baby teeth lead the way for permanent teeth

•Sports drinks are especially harmful…not totally sure why, but hypothesized that because salivary activity significantly slows during exercise which means that the body’s natural defense (saliva) isn’t present

•Also, some ingredient in them might be more harmful. Also, “gu,” energy candies, and power bars consumed during exercise are terrible for teeth.

•Most people disassociate the teeth from the rest of their body and don’t realize that it is one of the most important systems that works in concert with your body.