Post No.: 0774
Fluffystealthkitten says:
Meowwwch! I’ve got fangache today :(.
Furrywisepuppy says:
Oh no kit. Is there anything I can do?
Fluffystealthkitten says:
I’ll get better. I know what I’ve got to do. I’ve just been a bit lazy and haven’t been brushing my fangs as much as I should have lately.
Furrywisepuppy says:
Periodontal disease is surprisingly common in cats; as with dogs.
Fluffystealthkitten says:
Yeah. It’s a good time to remind or encourage everybody to look after their teeth.
Furrywisepuppy says:
I guess the prevention of problems is always the best strategy.
Fluffystealthkitten says:
And that starts with one’s diet. Starchy and sugary carbohydrates, plus acidic or sour foods and drinks, are the worst. According to fossil and bone records – human ancestors post-agriculture had worse teeth than pre-agriculture, likely because of the increased amount of dietary carbohydrate.
Furrywisepuppy says:
Now it’s not the sugars per se that causes teeth enamel to erode – it’s acids. Bacteria that feed off the carbohydrate stuck on your gnashers leave acidic waste products that dissolve teeth enamel. So things like the acids in fizzy pop and fruit juices are what directly attack your teeth, whilst the sugars indirectly do so. (Artificial sweeteners vary regarding their harms, harmlessness or even benefits to teeth.)
Fluffystealthkitten says:
You’ve probably felt how instantly rough your teeth become after consuming something acidic. You can neutralise this acidity and feeling with something like cheese, sugar-free gum (to stimulate saliva production) or you could at least rinse your mouth with plain water after consuming anything that’s sugary, starchy or acidic.
Furrywisepuppy says:
I’d say that’s a good habit after eating or drinking literally anything that isn’t plain water. Thoroughly swill your mouth with plain water to dislodge any stuck food particles and to neutralise the pH levels in your mouth – not literally after every mouthful but every meal or snack. Don’t let the bacteria or plaque build up as much on your teeth.
Fluffystealthkitten says:
Don’t brush your teeth too soon after a meal though because this could actually work the acid erosion into your teeth even more. Wait about 30 minutes after a meal. People traditionally consume sweet desserts last if they have them but it’d arguably be better to end meals on a savoury course because salt inhibits bacterial growth.
Furrywisepuppy says:
Dogs and cats have their own toothpastes, dental sticks or chews and routines, so we’ll talk about human dental healthcare here…
Surely everybody who’s been to school knows that they should brush their teeth twice a day. It should be pretty routine daily stuff; along with physical activity, sleeping, washing, eating and regular bowel movements… although not all at the same time(!)
Fluffystealthkitten says:
For healthy teeth and gums – every night before you go to bed (which should also mean you’ve not eaten or drunk anything except maybe plain water for a couple of hours by this time), you should first floss your teeth. Then rinse your mouth.
After that, brush your teeth thoroughly with a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste (less for children) for a couple of minutes. Clean your tongue too with a scraper or by brushing it. Spit but don’t rinse the toothpaste out; although you might feel like rinsing your tongue.
Brush your teeth at one other time during the day – I’d say inbetween breakfast and lunch, but neither within half-an-hour after breakfast nor half-an-hour before lunch.
Furrywisepuppy says:
Brushing alone won’t reach all parts of your teeth, and flossing alone won’t either, so they complement each other. There’s no need for mouthwash – just swill your mouth with the toothpaste foam just before you spit it out. And a manual toothbrush is fine if you’re thorough enough – but there is such a thing as brushing too hard and/or over-brushing, which will wear down the enamel itself.
Slightly-yellow teeth can be stronger than paper-white teeth – notice the fang colour of tigers for instance! Mild fluorosis, due to excessive fluoride when young, actually leaves teeth relatively more resistant to caries. (That’s my situation, and I have all my own teeth and no caries or fillings.)
But teeth-whitening procedures have grown in popularity because we almost expect everyone to have artificially white teeth now, like we expect to see no skin blemishes or wrinkles on anyone because they ‘should’ conceal it with makeup, especially if they’re on television. We can feel no intrinsic problem with many things in our lives, like having less-than-paper-white teeth or armpit hair, but feel that other people will judge us negatively for them. And only because of this we’ll end up having a problem with them. If your teeth are yellow because of an underlying serious problem though then that needs to be checked out.
Fluffystealthkitten says:
It appears that cat and dog toothpastes come in more variety of flavours than what humans get! Different flavoured toothpastes might keep your brushing interesting, and they do exist for humans, but the most mainstream flavours are by far mint or clove. Always check they contain enough fluoride though.
Furrywisepuppy says:
Via one’s diet, sufficient calcium is important too, as are vitamins A, C and D, phosphorus and a few other vitamins and minerals, for one’s teeth and gum health.
People understand that milk is great for building strong teeth. However, many fail to understand that milk does contain sugars i.e. lactose, hence why milk is naturally sweet; although many children mightn’t think so because milk is relatively far less sweet than modern soft drinks, which really should be regarded as quite sweet.
Therefore if left on your teeth for a long time, milk will eventually rot your teeth, hence it’s not a substitute for brushing your teeth. This information is crucial to know when it comes to bottle-feeding children milk just before their bedtime.
Fluffystealthkitten says:
Yes! Many people don’t realise how desensitised they are to the sheer sugariness and sweetness of the processed foods and drinks they consume and have gotten used to, like some confectionery and soda. Even hamburger buns are loaded with sugar.
If you consume these sweet, processed foods and drinks regularly, try abstaining from them and only eating unprocessed foods for a month. Then come back to them. You may realise how seriously sweet (sickly sweet even) many of them actually are. This is especially worrying for things like cereals marketed at children.
Furrywisepuppy says:
Consumers expect everything that’s branded to be consistent every time rather than exhibit natural variations, and this consistency requires processing. Taste evolved to be a reasonably reliable guide as to what’s good for us, but in today’s environment of refined sugar and processed foods, it’s not.
Refined sugars are far sweeter than anything found naturally, and getting used to the taste of refined sugar can make a child reject nature’s sweet treats i.e. fruits, in favour of refined sugar candy. By comparison, something like peas may be regarded as ‘too bitter’ hence children may reject them – meaning that parents nowadays have a harder time in trying to get their children to eat their vegetables. So give them sweets too regularly and they might reject their home-cooked dinners.
Fluffystealthkitten says:
Parents often buy foods and drinks marketed specifically for children, thinking that it has been designed, health and balance-wise, for children – but they are often far more sugary, plus more expensive per weight/volume, than the versions marketed for adults!
Furrywisepuppy says:
Your taste buds or tongue starts to tolerate certain levels of sweetness, like it can with saltiness or chillies. It’s loosely akin to a tolerance effect with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and many other drugs – except one won’t accept less, rather than one needs more, to feel the same effect.
The concept of tolerance can work in our favour though when we exercise and get fitter and thus get used to a certain amount of physical exertion.
Fluffystealthkitten says:
We empirically know that advertising works to increase demand, and so reducing advertising will work to decrease demand. Regulating where and when cigarette advertisements are allowed to be shown, as well as packaging designs, has gradually reduced demand for cigarette smoking over time in countries where such regulations have been implemented. Therefore reducing the marketing of sugary products aimed at children would improve their health.
Furrywisepuppy says:
But the most recent generations of children, overall, don’t know any differently than this environment of highly-processed stuff. It’s not just the tooth decay or gum disease but also the calories. Many parents also believe that refined sugar is responsible for their children’s increased mood swings, due to the sugar highs (maybe?) and lows.
Sugary products are also culturally associated with many celebratory events, and even consolations, for children as well as adults, that they’ve become substitutes for love in some places; and rewards, treats and comfort foods in other places. Arguably, they’ve helped to feed a culture of expecting instant gratification – refined sugar hits the brain’s reward centres (the same areas as drugs like opium and cocaine do) in such a big and instant way that ‘big and instant’ becomes the expectation for all things pleasurable.
There’s constant evolving marketing spin in the sugar industry when they call sugar ingredients as, for instance, ‘high fructose corn syrup’, ‘fruit juice concentrate’, ‘agave’, ‘turbinado’, ‘molasses’ or ‘evaporated cane crystals’ rather than just what they are i.e. sugar! They’ll also call something ‘all natural’ or ‘organic’ where possible too because these terms will sway consumers into thinking they’re necessarily healthful when not everything that’s natural or organic is. (Organic doesn’t even need to mean pesticide-free!)
Fluffystealthkitten says:
It’s equivalent to political spin, except somehow corporate spin is simply labelled as ‘marketing’ instead of ‘propaganda’, and is viewed as legitimate and even clever rather than dastardly or corrupt! We should scrutinise both but, for some, businesspeople and businesses are measured by a different standard to politicians and governments. It appears like the profit motive can excuse more deceitful behaviours than better intentions can.
An element of exaggeration, bull**** or at least the concealment of the full truth is in almost every commercial or PR message. Corporate agendas get pushed increasingly into every orifice of our public and private lives – they would definitely advertise in our dreams if they could!
Propaganda works when we don’t question it. It was the sugar industry that tried to place the entire blame for metabolic diseases and obesity on fat when sugar is now understood to be jointly a leading cause for these conditions (well sugar converts into fat if your liver and muscles cannot store any more glycogen, but they don’t mention that in any of their marketing). There’s so much hidden sugar even, or often especially, in low-fat ‘healthy’ marketed foods.
Furrywisepuppy says:
Snacks have come to mean highly-processed foods like crisps and cookies. And constant snacking doesn’t give your teeth a rest. We should hydrate throughout the day but if you drink sugary and/or acidic drinks in lieu of water then it’s the same problem. Starchy foods tend to stick to your teeth for a long time too.
Fluffystealthkitten says:
One tip a dentist suggested was to brush your teeth just before you settle down to watch a box set so that snacks won’t seem as appealing because all you’ll be able to taste will be the usually minty toothpaste.
Furrywisepuppy says:
Dentist checkups should come every 6 months, but this duration can be longer or shorter depending on the state of your teeth, gums and breath.
Fluffystealthkitten says:
The too furry Tooth Fairy wants your teeth though hence she wants them to fall out. And she pays more for teeth in good condition because she makes herself dentures from them because, ironically, she doesn’t take care of her own teeth very well(!)
Furrywisepuppy says:
She’s got an absolutely hideous smile :]!
Fluffystealthkitten says:
And that’s good motivation for me to get back to good habits and look after my teeth!
Furrywisepuppy says:
Splendid. Woof :D!
Fluffystealthkitten says:
Meow!
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