Enjoy Whiter Teeth While Smoking
You may have seen images of smokers with yellowed or bad teeth, often with teeth missing - and with rotten gums. This, you will be relieved to hear, is largely media spin, and in fact smoking doesnt lead to those extreme examples as much as they would have you believe. The health of your teeth has very little to do with smoking, and a lot more to do with other factors. We'll have a look at some of these in this article.
First of all, lets set the record straight. If you type in to Google "alcoholic teeth" you will find quite a few images of people with bad teeth. If you type "soda teeth" in to Google you'll find a lot more. There are thousands of substances you can put in your mouth that are safe for human consumption, but not healthy for teeth. These include drinks, drugs, foods and even some oral cleaning agents. If we look at a scale of how things affect the teeth, a simple chart might look like this:
1. XXXXXXXXXX - Crystal Meth - Very bad for the teeth, as it melts them.
2. XXXXXXXXX - Fruit Juice Drinks - Especially with sodium saccharine, A-sulphame K, or other sweeteners added. Even natural juice from concentrate can be an acid bath.
3. XXXXXXXX - Soda Pop - Cola, Mountain Dew, Sprite, 7UP, you name it. If its a soda drink then you can bet it will contain 7-10 teaspoons of sugar.
4. XXXXXXX - Alcohol - Fermented plant material may taste good to drink but teeth dont like it much, especially Alcopops, Cyder, Wine and Rum.
5. XXXXXX - Soft Foods - Yes Lasagne is a soft food, and so is "pie and chips", spaghetti, pizza, fish, and most convenience food; like Hot Dogs and Burgers.
6. XXXXX - Sweetened Yogurts - They hang around in the cracks and roots of the teeth, and can be difficult to remove without brushing.
7.XXXX - Candy - Candy is often harder, and some hard candy is good for the gums, but sweetened candy and convenience bars today are high in taste and high in sugars.
8. XXX - Apples - Surprisingly, modern apples are several generations sweeter than they were in the 1970s, so the acid in many domestic apples is now dangerous to teeth.
9. XX - Coffee - Not really much to talk about here. The black and strong type will stain the teeth, while the milky type (with sugar) will help them fall out.
10 X - Cigars - Similar to Coffee, smoking cigars stain the teeth, and this staining can contain germs, which cause tooth decay and gum disease.
This sort of puts cigarettes into context, as they arent on the list. As with anything, quantity and use will dictate exposure and therefore risk and outcome. There is no getting away from it, if you expose your teeth to any of the above, you are accelerating the germs and bacteria which cause plaque and damage. The good news is there is an answer, several of them in fact.
Mouthwash
There are lots of different types of anti-bacterial, anti-plaque and anti-sensitivity mouthwashes on the market, and some with teeth whitening added. (Its a shame nobody thought to combine these properties into one bottle). You can ask your Pharmacist or your Dentist which is the best one for you*. They come in several menthol flavours, and there is no harm using several brands throughout the day, as long as you spread them out a little, so the ingredients have time to take effect. If you dont have plaque anymore, then switch to the whitening variety.
Stuck for a Menthol ciggie, but only have regular?
...
No problem, just gargle a while with mouthwash (at least 90 seconds of swishing it around)
and soon you'll be able to smoke the taste of this anti-bacterial healing into your body.
* Note: Avoid mouth wash with Sodium Saccharine, A-sulphame-K, sweeteners, or Alcohol - as these will slowly take off the outer shell of the teeth and expose micro holes, which cause sensitivity. Your teeth will put up a strong defence against Fluoride, which some say is beneficial, but I'd suggest to avoid it. Many people are switching to Organic alternatives (see links).
Brushing!
As with most oral medical examinations, the advise is to brush the teeth, although there is a wide range of options when it comes to how hard to brush them. Experts say to brush very softly, with an extra soft brush, to be replaced every 3 weeks - but as those experts are in the business of making money from your mouth, these cant necessarily be trusted. Whenever I have soft or swollen gums, I brush medium hard, for a good long duration, and slowly the gums get tougher and the disease goes away.
Try to find a natural toothpaste which doesnt contain sweeteners, and there are several on the market - which often taste like liquorice or aniseed, or clove. The Clove brands are especially helpful when fighting gum disease. There are also some whitening brands if you look carefully, and its possible to find just the right toothpaste for you. This can also give a double-whitening effect with the mouthwash! - although experts say to leave it 10mins between brushing and mouthwashing, as the chemicals may chemically react with each other, and blow your head off, or something along those lines. Either that or they render each other inert by fighting each other.
Milk!
Calcium is nice to have around. It is white in colour, and found in milk and several other foods like natural yoghurt and cheese. Milk will also help to whiten the teeth by giving the teeth (and bones) extra calcium. As the tooth drinks the calcium with its roots, it can repair itself from the inside, and fight infection. Milk is also an antacid (anti-acid), and this can cleanse the extremely acidic residues left by soft drinks, apples, sugars, coffee, and such. Milk is the third way to whiten teeth!
Celery?
As extreme as it sounds, we can use Celery as a good example. You see, when Mankind first rolled down from the trees a few hundred thousand years ago, they lived by chewing stuff - bulbs, roots, vines, nuts, berries, tubers, and greens. Just like a dog eating a bone, chewing on this kind of stuff really helps the gums, and keeps the teeth and gums strong - where they are more able to fight infection. If you need to give yourself an oral workout, the extra saliva you generate will also fight infection. Celery is a good example because its rather tough, and the thin strands within the celery often get stuck between the teeth, and gives you a free floss for nothing.
Vitamin C Complex?
There is also another way to improve teeth, and this is with Vitamin C. Who really gets enough? A lack of Vitamin C causes the teeth to go milky and rotten, in a condition you might know as Scurvy. Many people think oranges are high in vitamin C, but mixing them with Milk (mentioned above) will quickly lead to a belly ache. Due to selective farming over the last 70 years or so, the vitamin values of fruits and vegetables has gone down dramatically, to the point where there is only a fraction (100 times less) by the time you get to eat it. Stocking up on pills from the 'Health Food' store might not help either, as most likely you will find the synthetic kind known as L-Ascorbic Acid, and too much of this causes the body to get Scurvy - yes too much causes a lack of Vitamin C, as the body just cant process it (see Research link below). Proper Vitamin C comes as a complex, along with Vitamin K, Vitamin J, and also some trace metals like copper. Together they are naturally found in Rosehips (Jam, syrup), Green Chili Peppers, Yellow Peppers, Blackcurrants, Parsley and Thyme.
By avoiding combinations of the bad stuff, and allowing combinations of the good stuff, there is no need to feel bad for what you love to consume. And with the right care once in a while, you can have your cakes and eat them too.
The options and opinions stated in this articles are meant to be in the context of satire, and are not to be taken as fact or advice. Please consult your dentist, your doctor, your pharmacist, your dietitian, your optician, your paediatrician, your politician and your lawyer, before considering to undertake any of the measures stated above. I take no legal responsibility or jurisdiction for your actions, and will not be held accountable in a court of law should the said parties teeth fall out.
Research links:
Sarakan Organic Mouthwash review - www.bestelectrictoothbrush.org.uk/sarak ... sh-review/
Fluoride-free Mouthwash without Alcohol - www.nonfluoridetoothpastes.com/fluoride ... t-alcohol/
5 Ways That Drinking Milk Can Improve Your Health - www.healthline.com/nutrition/milk-benefits
The Best and Worst Vitamin C - Dr. Eric Berg DC - [Youtube]
20 Foods That Are High in Vitamin C - www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-c-foods
Post by AusNick on Jun 2, 2019 6:33:56 GMT
G'Day Dan,
Reading this brought a smile to my face, especially since you featured an Ad I remember from my early teen years.
Nick