Yeast Infections, Yes, Men. You Can Get Them, Too

When you think of yeast infections, you usually think “down there” on women, right? Actually yeast love a warm, moist environment where good bacteria lack– which is the entire digestion track from the mouth through the anus in addition to “down there.” The medical name for yeast infections is Candida albicans which essentially means “white fungus.”

Most times it presents itself as a white patch covering the palate or cheeks but when present for a long time it can become quite red. Most of my patients have no idea they have a yeast infection until it either gets very advanced, puffy, red and sore or travels down the esophagus and throat which makes for a rather scratchy throat, which also means it most probably covers the entire digestive canal. If there are symptoms present, usually the complaint is a dry mouth or sores on the corners of the lips or the denture does not fit well any more. Dentures are a leading cause of local yeast infections when they are not removed from the mouth nightly to “let the gums breathe” as I tell my patients. Also not cleaning a denture or partial well allows bacteria to linger in the plastic and be reintroduced to your mouth when replaced.

Treatment of yeast infections is rather simple, two to four weeks of nystatin rinses (the same thing in the troche for vaginal infections- and yes, it can be dissolved in the mouth also). I also ask my patients to eat good Greek yogurt, and swish it around the mouth before swallowing to get the “probiotics” working-(fancy name for live bacteria). However many people are not cured within this time frame for several reasons-the first of which is lack of properly caring for yourself. Truth be told, most people who have dentures lost their teeth due to improper hygiene. Very, very few people have dentures from an accident smashing all the teeth out. Not properly abiding by doctor’s orders to care for the denture, or to complete the full phase of the medication causes recurrent infections.

Another cause for recurrent yeast infections I will explore on my next post- diabetes. Take care of yourself. Get and stay healthy.

Are you healthy, really?

Every day we all go through our normal routines and if we wake up and get out of bed, except for the occasional cold or flu, we consider ourselves healthy. I am a doctor of dentistry and daily my patients update their medical history so I can know their status before performing procedures causing high stress in most individuals. The vast majority of my patients check the box “I am healthy” even though they take several medications for blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, thyroid, etc. Get my drift? You are not healthy. Your health is being controlled to a healthier state by the medications. But you are not healthy.

Bleeding gums are not healthy. Period. My last post gave all the reasons why gums bleed from a dental standpoint. Today, I will inform you of these health reasons as to why gums bleed. Statistically, over 80% of you have gum disease. That is the number one reason your gums bleed. Here are others.

Diabetes is a metabolic disease where your healing system does not function properly. Statistically we doctors know you do not take all medications exactly as prescribed. This is ultra important information for all us doctors to know when you come in for a visit. If you take medication for high blood pressure or diabetes, they can have a tremendous effect on your dental health. Some of it is the tissues (gums) do not heal properly. Some is the saliva glands do not function properly due to over 104 medications we know of that cause dry mouth. If you’re taking 2 or 3 of these, well, you have dry mouth, and your teeth and gums suffer for it. If you do not take the medication exactly as prescribed, your tissues suffer far more greatly than you can realize until the damage is too far gone.

An aspirin daily is great for your heart. If you have plaque under your gum tissue and you take an aspirin daily, your gums are going to bleed heavily. Metabolically, your body is only doing what you tell it to do so it can try to stay healthy. You are telling it to bleed more freely by taking the aspirin, but then you are also telling it you do not need to be clean and healthy in your mouth. The systems work together and you are confusing them. So you bleed more than what would be considered normal for the amount of plaque you have. If there is no plaque at all, the tissues will not bleed just because you take an aspirin, but the average person does have plaque sitting around festering so the aspirin causes far greater bleeding to occur.

Lacking vitamins is more common than one would think for the level of education and the degree to which our country avails food and proper nutrition. When you do not eat a diet based predominantly in fruits and vegetables you are not getting proper nourishment. Taking a daily vitamin pill but relying on a cheeseburger and squirrel’s nest of fries to fulfill your diet will not make your body heal nor stay healthy for a very long period of time. When you do not eat right, or do not chew your food right, you are not processing the vitamins you need for good immune protection. And your gums will bleed to tip us off to that. Especially when you have plaque down under them.

Other signs bleeding gums tell us, far less common, but real, are leukemia and anemia, and kidney or liver disease which can all be serious problems that may manifest first with bleeding gums. Again, you must be meticulous in home health care for your mouth before this can be judged, but when we clean your teeth and there is no plaque at all, yet you bleed, you will be told you need to see your physician for some blood work to find the reason.

Lack of proper nutrition, taking aspirin daily, diabetes, high blood pressure medications, or some sytemic diseases are all rea

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Healthy Gums Do Not Bleed. Period.

Healthy Gums Do Not Bleed. Period.

The title says it all. I know you’re going to say that your gums have always bled. Okay. That means that your gums-or you- have always been unhealthy.  Truly, it’s that simple. So, let’s take a look at this.

There is a space between where you see your gums on your tooth and where it actually attaches to your tooth just like your fingernails. This space averages 2-3 millimeters deep- 3 millimeters in between the teeth and 1-2 millimeters wrapping around the tongue side and the cheek side. Your toothbrush can reach down 2 millimeters if you have a soft brush, flexing it gently against the tooth but the space in between your teeth the bristles cannot reach. Hence flossing that space has been preached to you since you were an adolesent.

The food you place in your mouth several times daily sits in this nice cozy space and bacteria come to enjoy the bounty of this new found food.  The bacteria will colonize over this food within 24 hours- for the average person eating a healthy diet and not smoking. They colonize far more quickly if you smoke or eat a diet based on white and/or sugary carbs. This colony of bacteria needs to be disrupted before they sit too long and start eating your tissues for nourishment and mineralize and then you cannot remove them with a tooth brush. Once mineralized, more come to join the party, festering under your gum tissue microscopically, and now it is called tartar, eventually the bacteria feed on your bone,  and only the instruments used by a hygienist can remove them.

So- let’s compare this to a few examples easier to see. When you toil in your garden all day, by the time nighttime falls and you return indoors, your fingernails are caked with dirt. Some of your nails are longer, some down to the quick. You can scrub your hands all night long but the dirt under your longer fingernails just will not come out. You need to take an orangewood stick and scrape that dirt out. Your gums work the same way.

So what about bleeding? When you go to the hair salon, the girl brings you to the back and shampoos your scalp pretty darn good, right? You never can get that scrubbed feeling. Maybe it even hurts a little, but boy, how clean it gets! Yet, it does not bleed.

You get a manicure and the lady scrapes out under your fingernails and pushes your cuticles away from the nail bed. She really goes at it, right? Yet,  your hands don’t start bleeding. If your scalp or your hand started bleeding when they cleaned you, you would freak out, right? Because a bleeding scalp or bleeding hands just are not normal.

Neither are bleeding gums. Healthy gums do not bleed. If your gums have always bled, do you floss properly and brush correctly? Do you have the hygienist get in your mouth and clean those areas you cannot reach far more frequently if needed to eliminate the bleeding? I also eluded to the fact you, yourself may not be healthy if your gums bleed when you brush, floss, or when the hygienist cleans them. If you have absolutely no plaque or food debris in your mouth, it may be you. More on that my next blog, but for today, 80% of the time, there is food and plaque debris in the mouths I clean regularly. That is why they bleed.

Ask for the PROPER way to care for your teeth at home. Ask for a demonstration. Do the right things at home. Get healthy. Do not bleed.

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It’s just a back tooth, just pull it.

For my first blog, I’ll start with what I know best- teeth. There are four types of teeth in your mouth, each serving a different function. Your front teeth are called incisors because that is their function. They incise- or scissor- your food. Their eating function is to cut the lettuce from your sandwich while the canines hold it still when you bite into it. They do not chew food at all. If you chew with them, you wear them into tiny stubs, eventually losing them.

Your molars- the big flat ones in the back- chew food. The bicuspids push the food backward so the molars can chew it to mush, mixing it with saliva beginning the entire digestion process. When one swallows the food before it is mush- whether from gulping too quickly or not having molars with which to chew- the stomach must work extra hard to form the next digestive process. And then the intestines have to do double time to pull the proper nutrients from the non-meshed food.  It is all connected- just one long (approximately 30 foot) tube from end(mouth) to end (anus). If you cannot chew right, you will not pooh right.

Molars, mixing food with saliva, can determine your entire digestive procedure. IBS, Crohn’s, lack of vitamins, even bloating could all be related to not properly chewing food.

You need your molars. Save them.