Diets bad for teeth, bad for body

[Dardan.B]

SEATTLE, July 10 (UPI) --
Dental pain may portend future medical problems because a diet bad for
teeth may be also bad for the body, a U.S. researcher said.

Dr. Philippe P. Hujoel of the University of Washington School of
Dentistry in Seattle said dental disease may be a wake-up call that
your diet is harming your body.

Hujoel reviewed the relationships between diet, dental disease, and
chronic systemic illness in a report published in the Journal of
Dental Research.

Over the past 20 years, Hujoel said, people have been advised to make
fermentable dietary carbohydrates -- cookies, doughnuts, cake, candy,
bananas, tropical fruits, raisins, dried fruits, potatoes, refined
wheat flour, yams, rice, pasta, pretzels, bread and corn -- the
foundation of their diet.

Cavities or gingival bleeding from fermentable carbohydrates could be
avoided only -- and not always successfully -- by conscientious
brushing, fluorides and dental preventive measures. A diet higher in
fat and protein does not cause dental diseases, Hujoel said.

"There is fascinating evidence that suggests that the higher the
glycemic level of a food, the more it will drop the acidity of dental
plaque, and the higher it will raise blood sugar," Hujoel said in a
statement.

"So, possibly, dental decay may really be a marker for the chronic
high-glycemic diets that lead to both dental decay and chronic
systemic diseases."