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Exquisite Smile Times

Healthy news and information from Exquisite Smiles / 2020 July Issue

Also Known As Sugar

It lurks in bread, ketchup, salad dressings, pasta sauces and just about every other food. It’s sugar and it’s everywhere. Are you wisely trying to reduce this nutritionally empty substance from your diet? Then you need to know some of its aliases.

If you’re not an avid label reader, it’s a good idea to become one. Learn the many names by which sugar shows up in our foods. Some of its more common pseudonyms include high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltodextrin and others.

In addition to reading the ingredients on a food label, it’s also important to see how many grams of sugar are in a single serving. You might be surprised to discover that foods that aren’t considered to be sweet treats can be relatively high in this sticky substance.

Slash sugar from your diet and get regular dental checkups for healthy teeth.

Fascinating Facts About Your Teeth

They’re considered essential for speaking, help us enjoy the foods we love and we show them off in selfies. With two sets of them during our lives, our teeth are truly amazing. But how much do you really know about your pearly whites?

Fact #1: During your lifetime, you’ll spend 38 days brushing your teeth.

Fact #2: Toothpaste has been around for nearly a century. What was used before toothpaste was invented? Chalk, lemon juice and charcoal ashes.

Fact #3: By brushing each day, you can diminish tooth decay risk by 25%.

Fact #4: If you neglect to floss, a significant portion of a tooth’s surface will not get cleaned.

Fact #5: Tooth enamel is among the strongest substance of our body. But it can be damaged by acid produced by mouth bacteria.

Be sure that you brush, floss and get regular preventative dental checkups so that you can keep yours for a lifetime.

Sugary Snacks Sabotaging Your Smile?

Keeping your teeth free of cracks and cavities can be as simple as taking inventory of your snacks. Calcium-rich foods and crunchy fruits and vegetables are great choices. But the typical snacks are not only bad for your oral health but your overall health as well.

Soft, sticky candies such as taffy and caramels coat the surface of your teeth, feeding the bacteria that cause tooth decay. Likewise, hard candies can leave your teeth bathed in cavity-causing sugar.

Even worse, if you bite down on a hard candy your tooth could crack or chip. While popcorn isn’t the worst offender when it comes to tooth damage, biting down on an uncooked kernel can produce hairline fractures.

Chances are you wash your snacks down with some type of drink. Choose water, as sodas are high in decay-causing sugar.

Protect your teeth. Make teeth-smart snack selections, brush and floss each day, and get regular checkups.

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