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Looking good and feeling great! That is what having good teeth is all about. Having a healthy and good-looking set of teeth which functions well for life makes a tremendous impact on your enjoyment of life and total well being.

You will enjoy your food, feel healthier and look younger. You need to have teeth to look youthful because teeth and their supporting bone hold up the muscles of your face. Without these supporting structures, facial muscles sag and lips droop, making your cheeks look hollowed out and gaunt. You will look older than your age. Your teeth make your smile and largely determine your image and impression you make on others.

What happens in and around your mouth can affect other parts of the body. So you need to have healthy teeth and gums to stay in the pink of health. Recent studies have shown that the bacteria in decaying teeth and infected gums are linked to heart disease, stroke, pre-term births and low birth-weight babies.

It is also important to think of the mouth and surrounding features of the face as integrated, each part affecting the function, form and health of the other parts.
You can see the interrelationship by considering how teeth are connected to other structures of the face and neck. Teeth are anchored to the jaws by the bone and gums.

The lower jaw is hinged to the immovable upper jaw by the temporomandibular joints in front of the ears. The tongue is attached by muscles to the lower jaw. Muscles of the face which help mouth to open and close and make side-to-side movements when chewing, smiling and laughing, yawning and other movements, are attached to the joints, upper and lower jaws and the neck.

The diseases of the body also affect the mouth. Many general diseases of the body show signs and symptoms in the mouth, for example, nutritional deficiencies, sexually transmitted diseases etc. Therefore, it is important to let your doctor know the state of health in your mouth and to inform your dentist of your medical history, allergies and the medication you are on.

For total dental care, a multi-disciplinary approach is important:’ the doctor and dentist in consultation with each other, and among dental professionals, the general dental practitioner working in tandem with other dental specialists.

Dentistry, the study and application of the art and science of the mounth and adjacent structures, has made tremendous progress in the last twenty years. We are enjoying the technological advances and knowledge that will enable us to keep mouthful of well-aligned teeth which will probably outlive us.
Modern dentistry has widened the scope of treatment for people wanting to improve their smiles, have better tooth function, repair teeth, remove them and replace lost teeth. It also encompasses treatment of diseases of the soft tissue and jawbones and the temporomandibular joints (those that allow your mouth to open and close).

The dental profession can only perform what they know. Research is still going on to find better ways and materials to perform all these things, but the onus of prevention of most dental diseases is on you to take good care of your teeth and mouth.

The best method of feeding a newborn, breast-feeding, is also a boon to the mother. Barring illness, mother’s milk is reliable, plentiful, and always at hand. No preparation is required and no expense is incurred. Finally, in one of nature’s more elegant exchanges, lactation steadily uses up the fat stores accumulated during pregnancy at the rate of 100 to 300 calories a day.

An additional 500 calories above one’s normal intake are needed to produce sufficient milk for infant nursing, but beyond that, the nutritional requirements of nursing mothers differ only slightly from those of pregnant. The daily need for protein drops from a pregnancy high of 74 grams to approximately 64. Any shortage will be at the expense of the mother, since the milk yield will contain adequate protein even if it has to be drawn from the mother’s tissue.

Calcium, iron, and vitamin D requirements remain at pregnancy levels, but other vitamin and mineral needs vary between pregnancy and breast-feeding. Most of these additional nutrients will be supplied naturally through the balanced diet recommended for pregnancy, plus an extra 2 cups of whole milk and an extra serving of whole grains.

To maintain milk yield as well as her own health, a lactating woman should drink at least 2 quarts of other liquids a day. Milk volume may be depressed by cigarettes and oral contraceptives, and the former have been identified as potentially toxic to the nursing infant. Remember that breast milk is highly sensitive to contaminants of all sorts: eat only healthy, unadulterated foods while lactating, for our sake and that of your baby.