Cavity-fighting Lollipops!
Drs, Sharon Reid, and Robert Kulp

We are all told from an early age that to prevent cavities in our teeth we have to be conscious of what we eat. In fact, it was the ancient Greeks who first realized the negative effects of soft and sweet foods on the teeth. Well … guess what? Candy is the number one food choice for after school and evening snacks, and unfortunately, the bacteria that causes tooth decay (streptococcus mutans and sobrinus) love to feed on sugars. During this “feeding” process, these bacteria excrete acids that dissolve the tooth enamel, causing cavities. Actually, the amount of sugars you eat isn’t really as important as the amount of time it remains in the mouth in contact with the plaque (the hungry bacteria) on your teeth. In other words, you can eat whatever you please, you just have to get your teeth really clean (brush and floss) afterward.

An alarming fact in this country is that the sale of candy is growing rapidly. In our own practice, we constantly talk with patients who are looking for “healthy alternative” sweet treats for their children. Many choose gummy-like fruit flavored candy and since thirty five percent of all children eat candy every day, this fat free choice at first seems like a good selection. What parents need to realize however, is that this type of candy tends to stick to the teeth longer, providing the harmful decay-causing bacteria the energy they need to grow, reproduce and create enamel destroying acids. Other sticky, sweet treats containing peanut butter, honey or caramel also provide these bacteria a longer lasting food source from which to make the damaging acids.

We counsel parents to watch the timing of sweet snacks for this very reason. The harmful acids produced can be neutralized by the saliva and cleared from the mouth. Thankfully the saliva naturally contains calcium and phosphate ions, and these minerals can crystallize on the enamel (a process called remineralization) when allowed enough time, and the damage can be repaired. Frequent sugary snacks, however, provide less time for remineralization. Parents need to understand therefore (for themselves as well as their children) that timimg is everything when it comes to tooth decay. Fewer large meals are better than frequent smaller meals. Sipping on sugary drinks or holding sugary hard candy in the mouth throughout the day is much worse than just drinking sugary liquids or eating sugary candy in a quick fashion.

Now, to even better news! Believe it or not, there is now a delicious-tasting, cavity-fighting herbal lollipop on the market, that may be the answer to the proverbial “sweet tooth”! Dr. John’s herbal lollipops use an orange-flavored, sugar-free candy formula that contains cavity fighting herbal extracts. Used once in the morning and once in the evening for ten days, the candy disables tooth decaying bacteria for three to six months! The lollipops come in a dosing 20-pack that should be used between two and four times per year to maintain effectiveness.

Since a recent national survey indicates that the average child has at least one cavity in the permanent teeth by age nine, use of these cavity-fighting lollipops offers an unprecedented tool in the ongoing fight against tooth decay.

Herbal treatments have been used in Chinese medicine for over 3000 years. After years of research, microbiologists from the department of Oral Biology at the UCLA School of Dentistry have identified a specific herbal extract from the Chinese licorice root that targets and disables decay causing bacteria.

Anyone interested in this amazing new product can contact Drs. Reid and Robert Kulp’s dental office in Winston-Salem, 336-760-8700, or go to the Dr. John’s lollipops website at www.djohns.com.