As I practice dentistry, I notice patients who do not drink milk often suffer from a different degree of oral and periodontal disease than the normal milk drinker does. The following message is largely attributed to a CDA article “Milk helps Build Strong teeth and Promotes Oral Health.” I would like to share some of that message with you. It is summarized as follows:
“A great deal of research into the benefits of milk consumption has been done for many decades. There is a wealth of studies both in USA and abroad to suggest that milk consumption is largely anti-cariogenic when combined with a typical routine of oral hygiene. This effect can be mostly attributed to several factors: tooth remineralization, inhibition of bacterial colonization, and biofilm inhibition. These abilities have been studied in detail and are likely due to numerous proteins found in milk. An attractive feature of milk from the community health perspective is its widespread consumption throughout the world. For this reason, studies have been initiated to investigate the possibilities of using milk to deliver fluoride and antibacterial antibodies to high-risk populations worldwide. This review will focus on the various components of milk, which promote oral health, and will also discuss common approaches to improve upon the oral health benefits of milk consumption.”
“Studies on the benefits of milk in caries control can be traced back more than 50 years.” The article reported.
“In addition to the most obvious beneficial factor, calcium, milk has also been shown to contain multiple proteins that serve a variety of functions important for oral health. For example, casein is a family of proteins, which comprise 80 percent of the milk protein. They can actually help to recruit calcium phosphates to demineralized surfaces on the tooth.
Casein is also able to prevent the adhesion of caries-causing bacteria to the tooth surfaces as well.”
For more information, please call Dr. Sun at 661-799-8800, visit the website of www.DrSunDDS.com or go to her dental office at 23450 Lyons Avenue, Suite B in Newhall.