J. Peter St. Clair, DMD, PC

Research shows that babies are born without any harmful bacteria in their mouths. However, once bacteria colonize in the mouth, children are more prone to cavities in their baby teeth and permanent teeth. How do they get the bacteria? Caregivers.

Most parents don’t know that they can pass harmful bacteria from their mouth to their baby’s mouth. The most critical time is during the child’s first 2 ½ years of life. Most children are born without a single tooth. Can bacteria passed to children without teeth affect their decay potential for their whole life? According to research the answer is yes.

Here’s a shocker…..If you have a history of poor oral health, including many fillings… (Read More)

You’ve heard it before – three in four adults over 35 have some form of gum disease. A preponderance of clinical research reveals that gum disease poses a far greater threat to health than just losing a tooth. Periodontal disease may actually increase your risk for a variety of health concerns including heart attacks, low birth weight babies, diabetes, stroke, and other bad things.

Dr. Isadore Rosenfield, noted cardiologist and media health consultant once said – “People with chronically infected gums have twice as much heart disease as the rest of us. We have an imperative to treat gum disease – to save not only teeth but also patients.”

Dr. Steven Offenbacher, former director of… (Read More)

What is your definition of oral health? Is there even a standard definition of oral health? One thing is clear; the definition of oral health is not solely the absence of pain. Pain is also not necessarily an indication of poor oral health.

It wasn’t until the year 2000 that oral health was brought to the forefront of the surgeon general’s report as a critical component to overall health. This was an important event, but unfortunately never amounted to much in terms of being incorporated into most healthcare policies. This has led to continued poor to non-existent cross-over coverage between medical and dental insurance.

In 2005 at the World Congress of Preventive Dentistry, participants from… (Read More)

I have had a few patients ask recently about the order of oral hygiene activities. Does it matter if you brush or floss first, and should this be done before or after breakfast? Based on available research, it seems opinion matters as much as scientific facts.

A spokesman for the American Dental Association and a professor of restorative dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, recommends flossing first. His rationale? Get the unpleasant task out of the way to avoid the temptation to not do it. “Let’s face human nature, if you’re going to skip one, which one will you skip?”

By contrast, a professor of oral health sciences at the University of Washington… (Read More)

Last week I talked about a sometimes not so silent epidemic – sleep apnea. This week’s epidemic is much quieter but shares the general idea of decreasing the quality of life.

With more than 24 million diabetics and 57 million pre-diabetics in the United States, there are a lot of people affected by diabetes. That’s nearly a quarter of the nation’s population. The most up to date research shows the connection between dental health and diabetes has never been more critical.

As an indication of our general health, the rapidly rising rate of diabetes should be ringing alarm bells everywhere. The litany of health implications from diabetes is a long and grisly list. It is… (Read More)

Last week I discussed teenager sleep patterns and issues. This week we start a conversation about sleep for the majority of those reading this column.

My body has become accustomed to a certain amount of quality sleep. I have always had difficulty sleeping past a certain time in the morning, regardless of what time I go to bed. On the days over this holiday period that I stayed up later than I normally do, my amount of sleep hours was less and my quality of sleep tended to be lower. This had an impact on the way I felt the next day. Sleep “hygiene”, including regular bedtime, is so important.

There are many reasons for… (Read More)

When we were all young children, most of us got plenty of sleep, and for that matter, we didn’t think much of it. Our parents told us it was time for bed and we went to bed. We slept until the morning at which time we were woken by our parent’s gentle touch.

As we progressed into our teenage years, our responsibilities increased. This typically led to staying up later and getting up earlier to be able to keep up with these added responsibilities. Today, it seems that getting enough good sleep is even more of a challenge for our teenagers.

One of the contributing factors of this teen sleep crisis is that parents are… (Read More)

Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that is commonly used as a sweetener in many products, such as chewing gum, toothpaste and nasal spray. Xylitol kills bacteria by disrupting their ability to metabolize glucose, which is a necessary process for their survival. When bacteria consume xylitol instead of glucose, they are unable to use it effectively as a source of energy, leading to a depletion of their energy stores and eventual death.

The dental benefits of xylitol have been known since the 1970’s. Xylitol is not metabolized by the decay-causing bacteria Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), making it non-acidogenic and thus noncariogenic (not decay causing). Studies have also indicated xylitol decreases the levels of S.… (Read More)