Only the rich could afford the sugar, which needed to be shipped around the world to be used in the Royal Court’s confections and white pastries. There is a second clue. Refined white flour, when cooked, becomes a cooked starch that is capable of feeding the bacteria that cause cavities. Additionally, the starch sticks between the teeth (flour and water paste) where it holds dissolved sugars from a variety of otherwise healthy foods like fruits.
And then I come to beverages. Our addiction* to sugar has led us to seek sweet beverages. This has reached the level that parents wean their infants off milk to juice. I was weaned from milk to water, as was the rest of the world for millions of years up to the 1950s. In an attempt to keep our children from drinking too much cola and Kool-Aid type beverages, professionals and parents touted real juice as a “health food.” Not True!! Apple juice as an example has just as much sugar per glass as any soda. The vitamins B and C are inconsequential in amount. Plus, did you know apple juice has 8 times more acid in it than a cola. Additionally, the acid in apple juice is ‘organic acid’ which makes it far more bioactive in the mouth. Now infants (in bottles), toddlers (in sippy cups), children (in screw cap bottles) and adults (in their Macchiato/Frappe cups) can sip (Read: soften enamel with acid and feed cavity bacteria) every hour for the entire day!
A funny anecdote: I was explaining to a grandmother why her 3 year old granddaughter had so many large cavities and would need to be anesthetized in a surgery center to perform her 4 root canal treatments, 8 crowns and extraction of 4 abscessed teeth. I told grandma she first needed to stop giving her juice to drink in the sippy cup. Grandma asked what she should give her to drink, to which I answered ‘water.’ Grandma chuckled and smiled with her partially toothless smile and exclaimed, “Water! You’re kidding. Why, I haven’t drunk a glass of water in 50 years!”
I remind you all, our creator made us with water, NOT juice, power drinks or whatever.
In my time, we ate 3 meals and 1 mid-day snack (maybe). In today’s foodie society, teeth are exposed to sugary and often acidic food or beverages almost hourly. In the more recent “old days” (1940s – 1950s) the people at highest risk for high cavities were the folks with desk jobs who had a cup of coffee with sugar and a Danish pastry on there desk to sip and nibble all morning. Now, it is our entire society and all day.
What to do? Clean your teeth effectively (should take 2 minutes/day). A clean tooth will not decay! My other blog pages, my website, or your dentist can help you be an “effective” tooth cleaner. Then eat real food. Given the addictive* quality of sugar, cleaning up your snack and eating habits may be very difficult. However, the benefits in weight management, diabetes prevention and management, liver health, hypertension and heart disease prevention, calcium metabolism (bones and teeth) and more make it worth the effort.
* Sugar Addiction: Scientific study has verified unquestionably the addictive character of sugar. Every bit as addictive as caffeine, nicotine, narcotics and street drugs. You can Google search to find all the information you might want.
Want to learn more about dental health, click HERE for Winning With Smiles Children's Dentistry
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