At my six-month check up yesterday and cleaning, I asked the dental hygienist “how old” my teeth are. “You know that book ‘Real Age’ that adjusts your calendar age for bad habits like smoking and good habits like exercise to come up with your ‘Real Age’? What’s the ‘Real Age’ of my teeth?”
First of all, no patient has apparently asked the question before and she explained how no algorithm exists to answer. However, she did say that my teeth were pretty much on target for hitting their first 39th birthday just last week.
She said, “You have no major signs of inflammation and certainly none that couldn’t be solved with more regular flossing.”
“Inflammation? You can see it in my teeth?”
There are schools of thought that “inflammation” is the underlying cause or at least common bond between heart disease, diabetes, and depression.
In my book I describe my grandmother’s case: she developed depression then diabetes and then heart disease. It is a trio of ailments found far too common, together, in nature. One strategy for us to fight all three and to improve our general health at the same time, is to fight inflammation.
One clear way to do this given the nutrient focus of this website is to add more Omega 3 fatty acids to our diets. Omega 3 is an anti-inflammatory fat. It is actually used in cases of depression, diabetes, and heart disease.
But there are many other lifestyle changes we can make to reduce inflammation in our bodies:
- Get more sleep. Sleep loss leads to inflammation. Try to get to sleep at a reasonable hour.
- Reduce stress. The stressors are different for all of us and the degree to which we have control over them will depend on our circumstances, but look around and see what stress you can reduce in your life.
- Stop smoking. (In case you haven’t already.)
- Lose a few pounds. (D’oh!)
- Watch your B vitamin intake. A diet rich in B vitamins helps reduce inflammation. I will post a list this week since it appears that I have managed not to post about foods high in B vitamins.
And if you wonder about inflammation in your body, you might ask your dental hygienist about the “real age” of your teeth.
