The Beauty Diet (30 page)

Brushing and flossing are essential because they remove the film of plaque around and in between your teeth. If plaque is allowed to remain on your teeth for too long, it mineralizes and turns into a hard accumulation called
tartar
. You can't brush away tartar; it can be removed only by your dentist or hygienist.

Plaque that has built up along the gum line also can irritate your gums, leading to gingivitis, which is characterized by puffy, red, bleeding gums. At this stage the inflammation is mild, and the supporting structures that hold your teeth in place have not been affected—yet.

If gingivitis is not treated, plaque can move below the gum line and spread to the roots of the teeth. Now the problem is called
periodontitis
. Plaque begins to damage the fibers and bone that keep your teeth in position. It also can force your teeth to separate from your gums, creating pockets where bacteria can hide. Sometimes your teeth will look healthy even though gum disease is developing where you can't see it. Bad breath for no obvious reason can be a sign of periodontitis. Treating periodontitis can be an unpleasant process, but it prevents further damage to your teeth.

The final stage of gum disease,
advanced periodontitis
, is not pretty. By this time the fibers and bone supporting your
teeth have been destroyed. The teeth start to shift and loosen and may need to be pulled. In fact, periodontal disease is the leading cause of tooth loss in adults 35 and older.

Women may be more susceptible to periodontitis because of their hormones. Women are more prone to the development of periodontal disease during puberty, at certain points in their monthly menstrual cycle, when they are taking birth control pills, while they are pregnant, and at menopause. In addition to oral contraceptives, certain drugs can make you more vulnerable to gum disease, including some antidepressants and some heart medications, due to dry mouth.

Poor nutrition—the combination of eating foods that harm the teeth, plus not getting enough nutrients—can cause gum disease to progress faster and become more severe. My Beauty Diet will provide all the nutrients you need to protect your health and nourish every part of your natural beauty, including your sexy smile.

There's a difference between "diet" and "nutrition," although for practical purposes you can't separate the two. Your diet is whatever foods you eat. Your nutrition comes from your diet. This chapter is a little different from the others, because when it comes to maintaining the health of your teeth and gums, your food choices have both short-term effects and long-term nutritional consequences.

The foods you eat immediately affect what is going on in your mouth. For example, if you snack on potato chips, the food particles that get stuck in your teeth become food for plaque, and bacteria will start munching on your teeth for the next 20 minutes or so. Your hair and skin won't suffer—but
your teeth might. If you eat potato chips every afternoon and night at the expense of other nutrient-rich foods, your teeth and gums, as well as other aspects of your health, may suffer.

Teeth are built to last. When you were a kid, you probably were taught that brushing, flossing, and visiting the dentist would be enough to keep your teeth and gums healthy. Today health-care professionals know this is no longer enough, because nutrition plays a huge role in maintaining an attractive smile. If you brush and floss regularly, make regular trips to the dentist,
and
get the right nutrients from your diet, you should be able to use your teeth for a hundred years. Following are some of the major nutrients you'll need to keep your teeth and gums healthy and bright.

Most people realize that children need calcium to build their adult teeth. From there they assume that by the time adult teeth come in they are "finished." The truth is that adult teeth still need calcium and other trace minerals to make them more resistant to decay. We also need calcium to support the health of the alveolar bone. Statistics indicate people with healthy calcium levels have significantly lower rates of periodontal disease, while low calcium intake is associated with higher rates of periodontal disease. All of my Top 10 Beauty Foods contain at least trace amounts of calcium, but the best source is plain low-fat yogurt, with 448 milligrams in a cup (about half your recommended dietary allowance). Other good sources of calcium include dairy products, Chinese cabbage, and sardines.

This vitamin is necessary for the absorption of calcium. Vitamin D is not found in very many foods, which is why commercial milk, cereals, and other foods are fortified with it. You can synthesize your own by sunbathing, but

sun exposure prematurely ages the skin and carries the risk of skin cancer. Among my Top 10 Beauty Foods, vitamin D is found in salmon and oysters. Other good sources include fortified milk, cod liver oil, and sardines (for more information, see
Chapter 2
).

Magnesium is a major component of teeth and bones. This mineral works together with calcium and plays
many other important roles in the body. Spinach, walnuts, and dark chocolate, three of my Top 10 Beauty Foods, all contain magnesium.

We know a deficiency of vitamin C (scurvy) loosens teeth and causes bleeding and swelling in the gums. Vitamin C is extremely important to the health of your mouth, not only for its antioxidant properties but also because it helps maintain and repair connective tissue. This multitasking vitamin is essential for the formation of collagen, which helps keep your gums healthy. Without vitamin C, gums and the connective tissues holding teeth begin to erode. In a study involving more than 12,000 U.S. adults conducted at the State University of New York at Buffalo, people who consumed the lowest amounts of vitamin C were at the greatest risk for gum disease. Vitamin C also enhances immune function and promotes healing. Among my Top 10 Beauty Foods, you'll find significant amounts of vitamin C in kiwi, blueberries, sweet potatoes, spinach, and tomatoes. You can also get your daily dose of vitamin C from foods like peppers, oranges, strawberries, lemons, and broccoli (for more information, see
Chapter 1
).

Omega-3s are helpful to gum health because they help reduce inflammation and support bone health. A study published in
Clinical Nutrition
concluded that alveolar bone destruction in periodontal disease is associated with an imbalance between the omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids and that it makes sense to treat gum disease by increasing omega-3s in the diet because this will shift the body away from the production of arachidonic acid and inflammation-boosting prostaglandins. Among my Top 10 Beauty Foods, you can obtain omega-3 fatty acids from salmon, spinach, and walnuts. (For more information on essential fatty acids, see
Chapter 1
.)

The following eight eating habits will make sure you never have to hide your winning smile.

My brother Jeff, an orthodontist, recently asked me, "Which do you think is more harmful to your teeth: having a piece of chocolate cake at one sitting or sipping a cup of coffee with sugar throughout the day?" Believe it or not, the answer is the coffee, because sipping continuously throughout the day provides a constant opportunity for the sugars to attack your teeth (chances are, we eat a piece of chocolate cake pretty quickly!).

Teeth don't really care about portion control. For them, eating one caramel has basically the same effect as eating 20. However, for your teeth, timing is everything. Eating 20 caramels all at once is better for your teeth than eating one caramel every so often, all day. Sucking on hard candy or nibbling on chips and cookies all day nourishes bacteria and bathes teeth with acids that cause cavities. (For 20 or more minutes, bacteria feed off the carbohydrates, and the acids produced go to work on your teeth until your saliva is able to wash away the food particles and neutralize the acids.) If you snack, eat every three to four hours, not every three to four minutes!

Bad for teeth
are lollipops, cough drops, peppermints, and sweet candies that bathe the teeth in sugar. If you tend to eat these sweets in succession, your teeth get a sugar bath all day.

Even worse for teeth
are chewy or sticky treats like Starburst candies, Tootsie Rolls, Gummi Bears, caramels, and Skittles. Sticky foods stay on teeth longer, and this increases acid formation.

Worst of all for teeth
are soft, sweet, sticky foods like cake, candy, bread, potato chips, crackers, cookies, sugar-coated cereals, cream-filled cookies, and so on. Unlike simple sugars, starchy snacks get stuck in between your teeth and linger in the mouth, continuing to feed the bacteria that cause tooth decay. If you don't brush or floss, food particles may hang around for hours or days.