More Chocolate, No Cavities by Dr. Roger W. Lucas, DDS – Part 1

More Chocolate, No Cavities by Dr. Roger W. Lucas DDS – Part 1

The title of this book may seem misleading, but Dr. Roger Lucas, DDS have valuable insight on how to keep not only our children’s’ teeth but our teeth cavity free.  He starts off his book discussing “The Three Most Common Myths About Cavities in Baby Teeth.”  Then he goes into the importance of fixing baby teeth with cavities and prevention vs. repairs. So lets dive in and look at the first myth.

Myth #1: Kids lose teeth by age 6 so they don’t matter.

Dr. Lucas makes it very clear that baby teeth do matter, and how we take care of them can lead to issues later on in life, and pain early in life for our children.  Kids do not lose all of their teeth by age 6, they typically lose their molars between ages 10 to 12, so baby sick around for a while. You have at least 10 years to keep those baby molars healthy.

Myth #2: Cavities are mostly caused by genetics, so there isn’t much you can do to prevent them.

Genetics doesn’t help with cavity prevention, but is does not cause cavities, these people just have to work a little harder to keep their teeth cavity free. Dr. Lucas says that cavities are “95-100% preventable.” To most people that seems like it would be impossible to accomplish, but is theory on being cavity free would keep you cavity free. The one thing that you can control that causes cavities is your diet, he talks about the foods we eat every day for meals and snacks.

Myth #3: My kids won’t get cavities if I don’t give them candy, soda or juice and brush their teeth really well.

This is not a bad way to raise your kids, they would definitely be healthy in other aspects, but it will not guarantee that your child won’t get cavities. If your child snacks on candy and drinks soda or juice all day long, then that’s where the issues start; your child’s teeth would be constantly exposed to sugar. That much exposure to sugar will wreak havoc on anyone’s teeth, not just baby teeth.

These three myths are ones he sees the most in his own pediatric practice from the parents of his patients.  It is okay for parents to think this way because they haven’t spent four years in dental school and 2 years in residency learning about teeth, and dentists don’t expect parents to know all of the inner workings of how to keep teeth healthy and the importance of baby teeth, and that is why he wrote this book, to give them a leg up and to get in front of cavities rather than spending countless time repairing baby teeth.

Some people wonder, “Why do we need to fix baby teeth, they fall out eventually.” If you have ever had a cavity yourself you understand the pain and sensitivity that comes with them, now think of you 3 year old or 5 year old experiencing that same discomfort.  A 5 year old may be able to express what they are feeling, but a 3 year old is going to have a much harder time, I have a 3 year old and I know for a fact she would have a hard time telling me exactly what is going on in her mouth and what it feels like.  Another issue that he discusses in his book about not fixing baby teeth is infection.  This would be the last thing I would want for my child to experience, because infection in a baby tooth can cause all kinds of problems, one specifically it can damage the adult tooth that lies beneath. Extraction could then be possible, not only would it be miserable for a child (I know it is miserable for an adult) but also it could lead to loss of space for adult teeth.  Loss of space could result in more expensive orthodontia down the road.

After reading this book my eyes have been opened as to what I put on my children’s plate for meals, and what I give them for snacks.  As a mom, I want to do all that I can to keep my child pain free in any way I can.  I understand that there are things out of my control, but I think what Dr. Lucas talks about in his book is definitely something I can do to keep my children away from the pain of cavities.

Please come back down the road for Part 2 and Part 3 if you want to know what else is being discussed in this book, and if you want to know what chocolate has to do with no more cavities.  Also if you have more questions about this book, you can ask Dr. Baker about it, he is the one that recommended I read it and share it with all of you.

Source:

Lucas, DDS, Roger W. More Chocolate, No Cavities: How Diet Can Keep Your Kid Cavity-Free. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.

‍