Many people who adopt a vegan diet report experiencing numerous health benefits as the result of a meat-free lifestyle. Unfortunately, when you stop consuming animal products, it can become more difficult to get certain important vitamins and minerals. One of the bigger concerns is calcium, which is a vital part of your oral health.

Since humans generally get much of their calcium from dairy products, a lot of vegans struggle with a calcium deficiency which prevents their teeth and bones from repairing themselves. They therefore need to seek out vegan-friendly sources of calcium. Fortunately, if you plan your diet well, there is no reason that you can’t get all the calcium you need without breaking your veganism.

Non-animal-based foods that are rich in calcium include kale, collard greens, tofu and other soybean products, broccoli, blackberries, figs, dates, dried apricots, oranges, artichokes, sesame seeds, adzuki beans, navy beans, and great northern beans. Additionally, there are numerous products that are fortified with calcium, like certain fruit juices and non-dairy milks.

For more tips on how to foster a tooth-friendly diet, contact Song Dental in Lynnwood.

The dental enamel is a highly important and highly complex structure, which has been surprisingly difficult to study. In an effort to better understand this structure, a team of researchers led by Derk Joester of Northwestern University is looking to an unlikely subject: beavers.

Beavers have an impressive set of incisors. These teeth have a lot of heavy-duty work to do, and they don’t have the benefit of regular tooth brushing or fluoridated water. They therefore need to be harder and more resistant to acid than our own enamel. It has been found that the superior power of beaver teeth comes from inclusions of iron in the enamel. Nanowires of hydroxylapatite make up the core structure of the enamel, and an amorphous mass of iron-rich minerals fill in the space in between.

This amorphous mass is an important revelation for the dentistry field. Though this mass makes up very little of the enamel, it is apparently responsible for giving teeth their acid resistance. Further, while the chemical composition of a beaver’s tooth is different from our own, the structure is largely the same. Researchers could use this information to come up with innovative new ways to protect our teeth.

The great durability of our teeth has been something of a mystery for a long time. While your bones contain living cells that are capable of growing new tissues and regenerating, your dentin is pretty much a solid mass of minerals. So, how can any of your tooth structure manage to survive for a normal human lifetime? Some recent research may shine some light on this topic.

According to a team at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin in Germany, mineral nanoparticles found in your dentin are “pre-compressed”. In industrial applications, compression is used to strengthen materials for heavy-duty gears, turbine blades, or similar items. Your teeth achieves the same effect to resist damage, and prevent any cracks that may form from traveling all the way to the sensitive pulp tissues in the center of the tooth.

In the future, this research may lead to the creation of stronger ceramic materials for prosthetic teeth. Until such a time, you can always rely on our Lynnwood dentistry clinic for reliable restorative dentistry.

For some time now, researchers in the dental field have been exploring the possibilities of something that is being called a plasma brush. This device is not actually a brush, but rather a plasma torch used to bombard the tooth with room-temperature plasma.

The potential applications for this device are twofold; first of all, the torch is very effective at breaking up the bonds that hold tartar to the surface of your tooth. Secondly, the torch shows promise as a more effective alternative to traditional cavity-filling technology. While certain kinds of cavities need to be periodically refilled and eventually pulled, fillings primed with a plasma brush are given more surface area to adhere to. It is believed that plasma-assisted fillings might be as much as 60% stronger than traditional fillings. And, better yet, it’s entirely painless.

If you’re looking for effective, painless dental care, you can count on our Lynnwood dentistry clinic. Call our office today for an appointment.

There are many good reasons to practice good oral hygiene that go well beyond tooth decay or gum disease. Some of these may be more unexpected than others. According to research done by a team at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, there is reason to believe that there could be a link between bad oral health and pancreatic cancer.

This study found that a form of gum disease known as periodontitis may increase your chances of getting pancreatic cancer. Periodontitis is characteristic of an inflammation that affects the tissues supporting your teeth and can cause a loss of bone around the roots. The other common variety of gum disease, gingivitis, has not shown any signs of an increased cancer risk, though it can lead to periodontitis if left unchecked.

It remains unclear whether periodontitis leads to pancreatic cancer, or if pancreatic cancer increases your risk of periodontitis. One way or another, though, it’s a good reason to look after the health of your teeth. Consult our Lynnwood dentistry clinic for a regular check-up.

Fluoride is an important mineral, but too much can be harmful. Fluorosis is a condition that occurs when a child receives too much fluoride during the formation of their permanent teeth. In its mind form, it can be entirely cosmetic, appearing as mild discoloration that only your dentist can detect. In more severe cases, you may see the following symptoms:

• Yellow or brown stains on the teeth.
• Irregularities on the surface of the tooth.
• Severe pitting, compromising both the appearance and health of the tooth.

Approximately a quarter of Americans has some degree of fluorosis. The good news is that it can be easy to prevent the condition, and treatment is available for people with serious symptoms. Consult our Lynnwood dentistry clinic to learn more.

Miswak is a form of oral hygiene that predates many of our modern innovations. It comes in the form of a tree twig, used throughout Muslim countries as an alternative to the toothbrush. This may seem like an odd and outdated practice, but miswak brushing is not without its merits.

Indeed, miswak has a lot of qualities important to dental hygiene. Not only do the bristles of the twig offer the appropriate abrasion needed to scrub away plaque, but it also has naturally potent anti-bacterial properties. Studies have shown that brushing with miswak can be just as good as conventional brushing with a toothbrush, if not better.

To learn more about proper oral hygiene, consult Song’s Lynnwood dentistry clinic.

Your mouth has an important connection to the rest of your body. As such, maintaining healthy teeth and gums is a good way to prevent disease in other areas, including your stomach, your heart, and even your brain.

This is according to a study coming out of the University of Central Lancashire School of Medicine and Dentistry. Researchers looked at tissue samples from the brains of twenty people, ten with healthy brains and ten which suffered from dementia. Four of the brains afflicted with dementia contained signs of a variety of oral bacteria that is known to thrive in gum disease. Though more research is needed, these findings led researchers to the hypothesis that there may be a connection between gum disease and mental degeneration.

Whatever additional studies may reveal, it is clear that your oral health has a substantial impact on your general health. So, when your next appointment with our Lynnwood dentistry clinic approaches, remember that it may be just as important to your brain as it is to your teeth.