teeth

How does Dental Hygiene reflect your overall Health?

August 3, 2016 PSCfy Partner 11 Comments

Often the most understated practices in our health is dental hygiene. Neither we make regular trips to a dentist’s chair nor we like being told how to brush our teeth although it is well documented that oral health has a link to our overall health.

Pregnant ladies are recommended to schedule regular dental appointments to make sure they do not suffer from any gum problems. Gingivitis can grow acute during pregnancy. Other gum problems can lead to preterm or low birth weight infants. Not only gum problems affect pregnant ladies but it can make other health conditions worse.

Dental Hygiene and Relation to Other Diseases

Bad dental hygiene makes it harder to control Blood Sugar levels

Gum inflammation and periodontal disease can make it difficult to control the blood sugar levels and make you prone to diabetes. On the other hand, diabetic people must be careful with their oral health as they are more prone to periodontal diseases.

Bad dental hygiene means more infections and inflammations

There is a link between gum disease and development of rheumatoid arthritis. Gum diseases can also lead to lung infections, especially pneumonia.

Bad dental hygiene leads to Heart Risks

The bacteria which causes gum inflammation can travel to the arteries of the heart through the blood stream. It can cause hardening of the arteries by depositing plaque on the walls leading to thickening of the walls and reduced blood flow which in turn may cause heart stroke.

Patanjali Divya Dant Manjan {Product Review}

February 16, 2011 Swati 7 Comments

Ok, so this might be the most weirdest review you had ever read. I am feeling so embarrassed to write this 😀 I mean, come on, who uses dant manjan now a days. My guess would be very few people. But, I had to review this because it is such an effective product. So, this is my another purchase from Baba Ramdev’s collection!! I had got so bored of toothpastes doing nothing that I decided to give this a try. Wait till you see the ingredients and then you might also change you mind!!

Price: 40 INR for 100 gms
(expiry date for 2 years)

Ingredients

So, are you impressed?? Better than fluorides and sulfates, right?? Some of the ingredients are very common and used very often as extracts in the toothpastes like salt, neem, babool, pudina or mint and laung or cloves. I love Promise toothpaste coz of that reason. It has cloves taste in it. Some of the other well-known ingredients are also there like turmeric, camphor, black salt, peppermint and black pepper which are all renowned for their goodness. Another reason why I bought this was that it was a dry powder so free of any chemicals. I am trying to be more environment conscious now a days.

My Experience

One bottle of 100gms will last a very long time coz it takes only half a tea spoon for one person every day. It is more than enough, trust me. I have used more and wasted the powder. Even when using toothpaste, I tend to take only a small pearl size. It keeps my teeth healthy and unnecessarily I do not end up wasting the product on my sink. Let me make this clear here. I am not a miser. I am just trying to be conscious and do not like wasting products. I do enjoy taking even a last bit out of whatever I have bought. And, I am a spendthrift. Ask my mom!! Ok, so this bottle has a flip-top cap with a decent size hole which does not allow excessive amount of powder to come out of the bottle.

So, coming back to the tooth powder, it is greenish in color as you can see. And, accidentally, I got out more of the powder so had to end up using more. There is a big disadvantage in that which I will tell you shortly. Half a tea spoon is more than enough. And, brushing with this doesn’t even consume much time. I stick to the two minute schedule only and using this powder doesn’t make it inconvenient. It tastes very much like cloves with a hint of mint and black pepper. The taste is not unpleasant at all. It thoroughly cleanses the mouth and I am pretty sure that it fights the germs effectively coz my breath doesn’t smell bad :O even after an entire day. The powder does foam a little bit so that it doesn’t feel all powdery inside the mouth. And, it gives a very refreshing feeling after brushing. Ok, so coming to one of the most important considerations while buying a toothpaste, does it whiten the teeth? Well, actually, it does not whiten the teeth but the powder removes the stains on your teeth and brings back its natural color. Well, for me, it works fabulously. An added incentive is that it brings back the natural color of the lips too. The pigmentation my lips has considerably lightened since I have been using this and my lips have become pronouncedly pink.

Now, coming to one of its main or probably only disadvantage. It leaves the mouth feeling a little raw after brushing for probably 5 minutes. This feeling decreases with consistent usage but if you accidentally end up using more (which I was talking about in the last paragraph), your mouth would feel even more raw. To combat this feeling, I drink a lot of water which neutralizes the effect. The reason for such a feeling might be the ingredients list. All things used are natural so the mixture might be extremely potent. I cannot fathom any other reason for such a typical reaction.

Ok, so why am I showing you a yellow brush??? The result of using this dental powder. Remember it has turmeric as one of its ingredients so this is the result.If you find this too gross, then of course, you should definitely stay away from this product.

My Recommendation
If you do not like any toothpaste and do not mind going for a little out of the league and seeing your brush yellow, then this is a fabulous product.

Also Read
Patanjali Ojas Multani Mitti Soap {Product Review}

Root Canalling or Filling?

October 19, 2010 Swati 5 Comments

Dental problems continue to hound you for life, if given a chance to start. And, worse still, your dentists are not to be believed. Now, why do I say this? Well, yesterday, I went with my friend for getting her filling done. She already had a filling in her cavity but she was getting pain so she went for a simple check up. She could not visit the same doctor who did her filling so we went to the one nearest in our vicinity.

When we went for consultation, he was pretty insistent on root canalling which was not required in my friend’s case as the cavity in her teeth had not reached the roots. Yes, you can tell that by looking at the X-ray. And, she was also told so by her previous doctor. Look at the X-ray, you can easily find the demarcation between a cavity and the teeth. I shall ask for X-rays and scan them and put them up so that it would be a visual help. In root canalling, the teeth is killed by pulling all the nerves from the root and desensitizing the teeth which is required only when the cavity reaches the root nerves. You can see that in the X-ray too.

To speak of the doctor, he was young and quite inexperienced as my friend said. He was not at all confident of his work but that at least was well in a sense that she got a very good quality filling done. Now, when she already had a filling, why did she get another filling? Reason is the doctor. When we went for the check up, they said the already existing filling is really good. Only, it has chipped from the top. They said they can fill that up and bring the filling in proper shape again. We thought that they would apply a little bit of filling over the existing filling so we went ahead with the idea. When my friend went on the dentist chair (which you should be really afraid of), there was no looking back. I was, very ruthlessly, thrown out of the room. And, my friend re-emerged from the chair after a full two hours! Any one would say that when does filling take so long. What I come to know then is that her existing filling was removed and a new filling was put in place just to fill the above chipped part!! I was shocked. But, I think whatever happens, happens for the best. Why? Coz the doc was uncertain of his work, he did a very good job of the filling and another reason is that my friend’s earlier filling was silver mixed with mercury which got replaced with a tooth color cement filling.

I am very sure that you are already aware of the toxic effects mercury has on the body. Well, if you do not, let me just say this that mercury is used to melt silver and then, the mixture is poured into the filling. Thus, metal fillings should never be done as mercury is always used to melt the metal and then mixed and poured into your tooth or jaw. That keeps on sipping slowly into your system and badly affects your kidneys, brain, liver and spinal cord. General problems are breathing problems, nausea, memory loss, hallucination, personality disorder and skin allergies among others. And, mind you, there is always a danger of exposure to mercury in the environment itself so it is not only a dental filling which introduces mercury into your body.

Secondly, metal fillings look really bad when you open your mouth for eating or laughing or talking purposes 🙂 A tooth color cement is also used for fillings. I would not say that they do not use chemicals. The procedure goes something like this. A layer or two of chemical is added then dried with a UV light bulb. And, this process is repeated till the whole of your cavity fills up. There are lot of chemicals used in this method but they are less toxic than mercury.

Now that you have heard of toxic effects of mercury, please do not rush to the doctor to get your fillings replaced immediately. See for yourself that have you been really having any problems and allergies after the fillings, get yourself tested for mercury allergies and then approach the doctor. And, people going for fillings, opt for porcelain or other kinds of fillings which do not involve mercury.

So, coming back to the incident of my friend, I would like to say do not believe what your doctor tells you. There is free information available today. Search on the topic, ask your friends and other doctors you know, ask people who have the same problems, these things help a lot in getting a correct diagnosis and proper treatment. Many doctors tend to treat the symptom instead of the cause. So, unless its your family doctor, always be skeptical of what you are being told. There is no harm in taking second opinion for serious things. Always be skeptical of your doctor and do not hesitate to ask a reason. You are not a guinea pig. If they fail to give an answer, run from there never to return and if they give an answer, take time to counter check. There is always some or the other doctor whom your acquainted with or related to. Always take advice from them. They are the ones who can give you the best advices.

After covering this incident and my advices, I would stress that prevention is always better than cure. So, start taking care of your teeth from today. And, stay away from sweets. Trust me they harm you (at least your teeth) real bad. I do have another incident about it which I would save for another post but you have been warned!! Floss regularly. Buy Oral-B toothbrush and floss. It was recommended by the same dentist. Flossing is difficult if you are new at it. Getting at the teeth at the back of the jaw, especially, the upper jaw is really difficult but you need to have patience and slowly you would master it. And, then flossing would take you no more than 5 minutes each time. If you do have cavities and other dental problems, I would recommend flossing after every meal. Otherwise, two times a day is fine. I would also add that if you are flossing for the first time, you would notice the blood on the floss. It is perfectly fine. It just indicates that your gums are not healthy and the situation would improve with every time you floss. Make your children learn this habit early in life to prevent their dental problems. Lastly, eat these foods to keep your teeth healthy and white.