Oral health (the condition of the teeth and gums) is strongly associated with serious health problems. Diseases of the central nervous system are among these problems. People with sleep apnea, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, infertility, and impotence have a higher average number of filled cavities than people without these diseases. Counting dental fillings is a good way to assess the risk of these diseases. Problems with the nervous system and cavities are strongly associated because they are both partially caused by failure of some of the same basic metabolic pathways inside our cells. Cavities should be taken very seriously. Every effort should be made to prevent them.
Like the risk of sleep apnea, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, infertility, and impotence, the risk of cavities increases with age. The older you are, the more important it is to keep your teeth and gums healthy. Due to aging, it is more difficult to keep your teeth and gums healthy. It is also more difficult to keep your central nervous system healthy. Diseases of the subconscious nervous system are difficult to detect, and poor mental health is difficult to acknowledge and discuss. Cavities are obvious. Gum health is obvious. It’s easy to ask your dentist, “Doc, how are my teeth and gums looking?” Everyone should be aware that protecting teeth and gums from cavities and periodontal disease also protects them from sleep apnea, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, infertility, and impotence.
Cavities are caused by poor nutrition. This is a well-documented fact from the 19th and 20th centuries. During this period, dozens of isolated, indigenous populations joined the modern economy. Time and again, when indigenous populations switched to a modern diet, the prevalence of cavities increased dramatically. Subsequent research has proven that the most important “anti-cavity” factors in the indigenous diet/lifestyle are vitamins. Read more here. The recommended daily allowances of vitamins are insufficient to maximize cavity prevention. If you are looking for good doses to start with, click here. Counting cavities is a good way to establish at an early age what individuals in the population need extra vitamins. In old age, the high prevalence of cavities and lost teeth suggests that the recommended daily allowances of vitamins are inadequate for the majority.
Nothing will change the fact that a higher incidence of cavities and lost teeth are part of the aging process. Optimizing vitamin intake will not stop aging. But it will help you to age gracefully. There is no reason for your teeth to age faster than the rest of your body. Our healthcare system provides excellent services for keeping your teeth healthy. By using orthodontia to keep your teeth in the right place, and then by brushing, flossing, fluoriding, and cleaning every three months, properly nourished teeth will last more than 100 years.
The importance of dental health puts the women (there aren’t many men in these jobs yet) who clean our teeth at the forefront of the healthcare system. Twice a year they have a roughly 45-minute opportunity to compare the health of our teeth to our neighbor’s teeth, and then to teach us about best practices for keeping teeth healthy. Vitamin supplements and sunshine have become part of that conversation. The best dental offices are helping their patients adjust vitamin intake.
Most people don’t like talking about the vitamin supplements they are taking. It’s embarrassing. Healthy people shouldn’t need pills. And vitamin supplements – even 1 RDA multivitamins – cause side effects. Admitting to side effects is also embarrassing. The dental chair is proving to be a good place to discuss vitamin supplement strategies to maximize benefits and minimize side effects.
If you are a senior citizen, and you are not taking vitamin supplements, and you’re not going out into the sun to get extra vitamin D, then the odds are that your teeth are deteriorating. If your teeth are deteriorating, then you are at high risk of suffering from at least one of sleep apnea, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, infertility, and impotence. Find a dental office that will help you put together a supplement program. Stop cavities and prevent nervous system diseases at the same time by implementing the program. Measure the results by tracking the health of your teeth.
Steve,
Forgive me for asking but how do you come to know so much about vitamins? Are you a nutritionist or a Dr of some sorts?
C:
Thanks for your question. I am a doctor. I got both my undergraduate and graduate education at Yale.
More importantly, I am an unhealthy doctor. I have poor resistance to the common cold. Since my children entered daycare in 1993, I have been sick almost continuously. There is no pharmaceutical cure to the common cold so I had to look elsewhere. I believe if I had not looked elsewhere, I'd be dead just like Jim Henson. I'm not saying that to be dramatic. I'm saying it because few people realize that the common cold can literally be deadly to the tiny fraction of the population with poor immunity to the common cold. I knew that vitamins had known anti-viral properties so I started to use them while researching them. I have access to the best scientific literature search engines money can buy and have learned how to make the most of them. Between reading and my clinical practice with vitamins based on my reading I have learned alot. In fact, I believe I have made a breakthrough and found a simple vitamin formula that will prevent cavities and anorexia (and therefore dramatically reduce cancer, heart disease, sleep disorders, mood disorders, and obesity). I recognize that this is too good to be true. Sometimes, however, too good to be true things are indeed true. I hope this is one of them.
Hey doc, there is a cure for colds. see it at http://coldcure.com also see why no other zinc lozenge works. See how i think you have a very low mouth-nose electrical resistance and why that is the cause of your frequent colds.
Very informative post. This means that our oral health is very important.