Daily Health Tips: Trusted Medical Information, Health Tips and Advices

No one likes to have (or smell) bad breath. Fortunately, it's simple to prevent. A foul smell coming from your mouth is usually caused by bacteria, so keeping your teeth (and tongue) clean and eating certain foods will do the trick. Follow these simple tips for better breath. 1.   Stay On Top Of Your Teeth  Your first and easiest line of defense is good oral care. Cavities, tooth decay, and gum disease can all be underlying causes of odor, says Sally Cram, DDS, a Washington DC based periodontist and a consumer advocate for the American Dental Association. Brush twice a day and floss at least once daily to remove the plaque and bacteria that accumulates on your teeth and under your gumline. And be sure to visit your dentist twice a year for a checkup and professional cleaning. 2.  Clean Your Tongue   The fleshy surface of the tongue is a prime breeding ground for harmful bacteria and accounts for a large percentage of halitosis cases; but most people neglect this c

My daughter's kindergarten class went on a field trip to a dentist's office recently. We go to the dentist regularly, so I admit that at first I thought the trip was a waste of time. However, the trip did end up impressing on me that many children today have little or no regular dental care, and that a refresher on basic dental care is always a good thing. Things You Can Do to Keep Your Child's Teeth Healthy In the first year of life, start brushing baby's teeth as soon as the first ones appear (usually at around 6 to 7 months of age). Make it fun by letting your baby hold the toothbrush, but also establish the pattern early where you always have a turn brushing the teeth too. The idea here to gradually get across is that tooth brushing is a must, not a choice. Don't put your baby to bed with a bottle. If you do, make sure it only has plain water in it, because milk contains sugar that will sit on the teeth overnight and can cause cavities. Limit juices and

Snapping and popping gum remain image busters -- just ask Britney Spears watchers. But here's a good excuse for discreet chewing: less blood at the dentist's office. If your gums bleed a lot during cleaning -- a sign of subpar dental health -- your dentist may urge you to floss more. But chew gum more? It could help. In a recent study, gum chewers experienced less gingivitis-like bleeding than nonchewers, but only if their gum of choice was enriched with vitamin C. Better yet, they didn't have to chew for a long time to get the benefit. Dentists have been concerned that too much direct contact between tooth enamel and vitamin C leads to a breakdown in tooth structure, but there was no problem with erosion in this study. And gum chewers didn't need to chew long -- only for about 15 minutes -- to release nearly all of the vitamin C in their sample gum. But they did chew daily -- about five times each day, in fact -- to achieve the benefits. Sound like a lot

Two minutes in the morning and two minutes in the evening and your lungs may be breathing fine for a very long time. We're talking about brushing your teeth. As you've no doubt heard, good dental hygiene helps prevent gum disease. But what you might not know? A recent study suggests that gum disease may open the door to some pretty serious lung diseases. The Mouth-Lung Connection Smoking remains the leading cause of serious respiratory diseases, such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The recent study did not conclusively prove that gum disease is another direct cause of COPD. But people in the study who were hospitalized with COPD and other types of lung disease had significantly higher rates of gingivitis and periodontal disease than the folks in a control group who had healthy lungs. It's not clear what the connection is. But we know that the bacteria from dental plaque, when inhaled into the lungs, not only can cause COPD

The keys to a young and healthy smile may be brushing and flossing -- and eating plenty of fish. In a study, people consuming the highest amounts of omega-3 fats -- particularly two kinds found in fish -- were significantly less likely to have periodontitis, a form of gum disease. The Healthy-Fat Effect The greatest gum-health benefits came from a type of omega-3 fat called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), although eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) showed subtle benefits as well. Both fatty acids are found in abundance in cold-water fish, such as salmon and sardines. People who got the most DHA from their diets or supplements had as much as a 20 percent lower risk of gum disease. Researchers think omega-3 fats may help calm oral inflammation caused by infections. The end result? Less tissue breakdown.    Simple Servings You need to eat only a moderate amount of fish to glean the sort of benefits enjoyed in the study. A good target, researchers say, is two servings a week of sal

You know flossing is a great way to fend off gum disease. But cancer? Turns out that there might be a connection. A recent study of lifestyle habits showed that people with healthy gums also enjoyed a lower risk of developing any type of cancer. Telling Teeth In the study, researchers used questionnaires to track the health histories and lifestyle habits of close to 50,000 men for nearly 18 years. Compared with men who had no track record of gum problems, men with a history of gum disease were 14 percent more likely to develop cancer -- any kind, although the link was especially strong for lung and pancreatic cancer. The Gateway to Good Health How gum problems might lead to cancer isn't totally clear, but other research indicates that people with gum disease usually have higher blood levels of certain inflammatory markers that are also associated with cancer and other health problems. Yep, healthy teeth may mean more than just a pretty smile.