Blog Series – Diet is the Key

As they say “you are what you eat”. In the mouth, you can also say “you reap what you sow”. The food we eat affects the amount and type of bacteria. Your diet also affects the protective effects of your saliva on your mouth and your teeth and gums.

It’s really distressing seeing workmen carry the one litre bottle of soft drink with the sweets. As a dentist, you have to deal with consequences of the multiple teeth decayed to the bone. But this is not the end of the story. People are living longer, so they have to deal with the terrible consequences for many more years than their parents had to. There are now implants to help “fill the gap” (pardon the pun).

However, what God gives you is free; what man gives you costs. Nothing is as good as the real thing!

Diet consequences begin with children. Giving sweets at a young age trains the child to crave for sweets all their lives. They get decay and need fillings or even suffer with pain. Not the best introduction to the dentist!

The trend has become so bad that some adults now freely admit that they are “addicted” to sweets and can’t modify their diet!

Here are the blogs for this series:

• Diet is the key – The bad and the ugly
• Diet is the key – The good and the clean

If one person changes their diet from reading these blogs, potentially saving many teeth, and even avoiding diabetes and heart problems, then I will be a very happy dentist.

Next week: Blog series – Meet the Team