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I guarantee that someone you know has

diabetes or is pre-diabetic. It’s become an

epidemic, so knowing how to reduce your risk

is important.

I’ve become somewhat of an expert in the

management of the dental complications of

diabetes. I write a column for an online diabetes

magazine called DLife.com.

As it happens, the things that are dentally

important for people with diabetes are also

important for all of us, particularly as we mature.

It’s just that people who have diabetes or who are

pre-diabetic are more sensitive to these factors.

What we eat is important for our health, so let’s

look at some specific foods and see how they

impact your mouth and overall health.

Dark Chocolate (70 percent cacao or more)

Just the thought makes my mouth water. That,

in and of itself, is a good thing because your

saliva not only helps digestion, it helps fight

bacteria, reduces the acidity of your mouth,

and contains immune components that fight

infection and inflammation. Researchers in

Japan have concluded that, at least from a decay

standpoint, antibacterial agents found in cocoa

beans offset the sugar levels and actually may

help prevent decay. High levels of cacao also

contain flavonoids, which have been shown to

help control insulin sensitivity. That means dark

chocolate can actually help fight inflammation,

prevent cavities, and help control diabetes. It’s a

miracle food, if used in moderation.

Suggestion: Shave a serving of dark chocolate

over some raspberries or strawberries for a treat

once in a while.

Celery

You probably won’t have to use your chewing

muscles a lot when you’re eating your dark

chocolate, but you will if you eat raw celery.

Chewing, as long as your bite isn’t off (we’ll talk

about that in a future installment), is important in

maintaining the flow of saliva. Having the proper

flow of saliva, as we mentioned, is important in

controlling acidity and inflammation in the mouth.

Raw celery has other benefits as well. Its fibrous

content is also good for helping reduce plaque on

your teeth. Plaque, the film on your teeth, is full of

bacteria that can cause gum inflammation, and if

you have a predilection for gum disease, or if you

have diabetes, this inflammation can progress to

gum disease, bone loss, and eventual tooth loss.

Chewing celery can help reduce plaque.

Celery’s other benefits include its low glycemic

index, vitamin C content, and flavonoids, which

help the body respond to inflammation. Plus,

there’s evidence that the phthalides in celery help

lower blood pressure. Celery also contains calcium

and magnesium, which help bone regeneration,

something your teeth will benefit from as well.

Parsley

Parsley is best eaten raw to get the maximum oral

advantage, which comes from its fiber, folic acid,

vitamins A and C, magnesium, and iron, which

are all necessary for healthy gums and teeth.

Parsley also contains “volatile oils” which are

known to neutralize certain types of carcinogens.

Since oral cancer is on the rise, this should be

of particular value. Parsley also has flavonoids,

which are antioxidants that help the body fight

inflammation such as gum disease.

Parsley is NOT a cure for bad breath. Parsley,

like all green plants, contains chlorophyll, which

can temporarily mask odors. It will not have a

long-term effect on reducing sulfur compounds

that cause bad breath, or “halitosis” (yet another

future column). Parsley does have some negatives

as well. It is high in oxalates, which may be a

problem if you have impaired kidney function or

gallbladder problems. So proceed with caution

and moderation if you suspect you have these

issues, or just ask your physician.

Green Tea

While green tea will not require you to chew, it will

help in other ways. It can actually help reduce bad

breath for an hour or two. Green tea has also been

shown to reduce gum inflammation and can kill

bacteria that cause decay (as long as you don’t

add sugar). Green tea also lowers acidity, which is

another reason it helps prevent cavities.

Green tea has powerful antioxidants that help

fight cancers as well. A University of Texas study

found that green tea slowed the progress of

oral cancer. Additionally, green tea has been

shown to fight obesity and lower cholesterol,

two significant risk factors for diabetes. It also

improves blood circulation, just like blueberries

and pomegranates.

“Dentistry, at the forefront, recognizes that the mouth

is not some separate, unconnected part of your

body, and as a patient, you should want the specialist

who cares for it to really understand the role it plays

in your systemic health”.

Foods That Can Help Your Mouth(and the Rest of You) Stay Healthy

In making the move two years ago from the faculty at Columbia to join Manhattan Dental Health, I was worried that leaving teaching would also leave me at a loss for the connections I used to be able to form with my students. What I didn’t realize then was how leaving a huge health care system like Columbia would actually help me grow as a practitioner, and provide me with the opportunity to provide a level of care for patients that is really second to none.

Fifteen years ago, sitting in one of the large lecture halls I shared with my fellow med school students, I couldn’t understand why, as a dentist, I really needed to be taking courses with such a high depth of information. I thought, “Shouldn’t we be spending more time getting better at filling cavities, restoring implants, or preparing teeth for veneers? Isn’t the practical side more important than all this science?” I think most dentists, even after med school,

Foods That Can Help Your Mouth Stay Healthy PAGE 1 & 3

MDH Values RDHs PAGE 2

A Look at Tooth-Colored Restorations Dairy-Free Mac and Cheese PAGE 3

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice PAGE 4 & 2

would say yes. I even think that a good many patients would as well. Dentistry, however, is not simply a trade, and the patients in Manhattan Dental Health are a cut above in that they recognize that true care involves more than the drill-hole-fill-hole approach all too common in today’s dental care.

Dentistry, at the forefront, recognizes that the mouth is not some separate, unconnected part of your body, and as a patient, you should want the specialist who

February 2016

635 Madison Ave, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10022 • 212-928-1000 • www.manhattandentalhealth.com

cares for it to really understand the role it plays in your systemic health. Even more crucial, though, is knowing how your health can affect what’s going on in your mouth. Everything I’ve learned over the years since joining MDH have reinforced this. It has built on the education I received at Columbia and truly helped me understand how good diagnosis is the key to good treatment.

Having access to the tools we have at MDH really changes the experience for our patients. It took me almost a year to embrace what’s involved with true comprehensive care. That process will only continue to get more efficient and detailed as we continue to incorporate technologies and treatment modalities that keep us at the cutting edge. However, while technology is crucial to precise diagnosis and treatment, I won’t ever lose focus of the values I think are most crucial to care.

Continued on page 2 ... Continued on page 3 ...

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Inside

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ingredients½ cup unsalted roasted cashews

1 ¼ cup reserved pasta water

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

2 teaspoon tapioca flour

Pinch of salt

Splash of lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups macaroni of your choice

As the backbone of MDH, and a specialist and partner in the process of making people happy and healthy, Dr. Goldberg truly values MDH’s team members. Under his leadership, I am constantly acquiring an enormous amount of knowledge, not only in treating patients’ conditions, but also in building trust, relationships, and a devoted bond with all the patients.

In hygiene school, dental hygienists are taught that they are the first line of defense in identifying dental problems. However, in

the majority of dental offices, they are not given enough time and means to implement their full abilities and experience. At MDH, hygienists are considered periodontal therapists and preventive specialists; time is generously allotted to do an excellent job. Dr. Goldberg’s training, combined with state-of-the-art diagnostic tools and equipment, is available to aid the hygienists in truly being the first line of defense. I am happy to come to work every day, because I am allowed to do my best work. The amount of pleasure I get, while boasting to my colleagues about the diagnostic and treatment strategies we follow at MDH, is immeasurable.

Dr. Goldberg is truly committed to doing anything necessary to provide happiness and contentment to patients. His immense knowledge and experience in the field of dentistry is admirable, as is his pool of

physicians as patients and higher-level connections. He has a unique way of treating every patient as a whole, rather than as just another dental issue. Finally, the location of the office — in the heart of Manhattan — combined with its good pay, friendly and supportive work force, etc., are also the reasons for my willingness to work and improve at MDH.

Words cannot describe how fortunate and happy I am to be a part of the MDH family. Without paying tuition, I am continuously learning much more than what I learned in hygiene school. I am positive that I will be a completely well-trained dental professional when I leave MDH, and I know I won’t have a debt of $150,000 for what I learned. Instead, I’ll owe a huge debt of gratitude to MDH and Dr. Goldberg that cannot be paid off.

directions1. Cook noodles according to

package directions. Reserve 1 ¼ cups of water, drain pasta, and set aside.

2. Blend cashews, nutritional yeast, paprika, flour, and salt until fine. Add water, lemon juice, and olive oil to dry mix.

3. Put “cheese” sauce into hot pasta pot and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly. Add noodles and continue stirring until cheese sauce thickens and fully adheres to noodles.

The days of using mercury-containing material in tooth fillings is over!

At Manhattan Dental Health,

we’ve shown “silver fillings” the door. These

days, there is no reason to choose silver fillings over

tooth-colored restorations, unless it’s a cost-saving measure. Some dental offices still rely on silver fillings due to the lower cost. That, and silver fillings are generally easier to work with compared to tooth-colored restorations.

In short, tooth-colored restorations are more challenging to do. Not only do they take longer to complete, they require a more

skilled hand to accomplish. Dental school educators say they can teach a “C” student to complete what they call an acceptable silver filling, but only an “A” student can complete an acceptable tooth-colored filling. That begs the question — just how many “A” grade dentists are out there?

We’ll let you be the judge. What we can say is the work speaks for itself. To achieve the tooth-colored look, we use porcelain and porcelain-like composite materials. Basically, we like to work with what we’ve determined will last the longest and be best for your tooth and overall dental health.

Decisions like this aren’t taken lightly. We decide how to approach your tooth restoration on a tooth-by-tooth, individual-by-individual basis. Thanks to dental innovations such as this, people are keeping their teeth longer than ever. So we do everything we can to keep up, and our customized approach to dental care means you get the best results possible!

Dushan

DAIRY-FREE

Having honed my skills for more than a decade, I have come to understand that while having good hands is an incredible asset, it is not care. Care comes from the relationships and bonds I form with my patients. True health care is just that. It involves the relationship that develops between doctor and patient over time, centered on the belief that your doctor truly has your best long-term outcome at heart, and treats you like part of the family. So much of that relationship is being taken away from us, and it’s really sad. The rushed interactions we tend to have with the people that are supposed to care for us, especially in situations that can be scary, stressful, and even uncomfortable, are only made worse when it feels overly clinical.

I find it interesting that in this world where we have made a commodity of nearly everything, many people still take the relationship they form with their dentist very personally. In an age where we can flip through galleries of people to date, restaurants to eat in, and apartments to rent, people are still looking for more when it comes to their health, and a lucky few have been able to find Dr. Goldberg and me, here at MDH.

Sometimes my staff has to playfully chide me. They tell me I’m being too loud, and that the laughter, conversation, and excitement

level coming out of my treatment room can be a little distracting. I apologize, and I’ll do my best to lower my voice, but inevitably, reconnecting with one of my patients, especially one whom I haven’t seen in awhile, leads to renewed distraction at the front. Thankfully, I prefer using our back room on most days, giving me a little more freedom for my enthusiasm. It’s a good compromise, because I don’t really think I’m going to change. If we didn’t have laughter to make it easier, dentistry would be a lot harder on the practitioner than many of you reading this could imagine. Laughter, and knowing as much about my patients as I can learn, helps me get through the day, so much more so than the array of procedures I may perform.

We live very fast-paced lives, which often can be overwhelming in this day and age. I don’t think too many people sit there pondering the great relationship they may have with their dentist. Certainly not to the degree that their dentist may think about them. The best I can do is take the time to learn as much as I can about the people I treat, and in so doing, learn how to really care for them.

Best,

Green tea will stain your teeth, though not as

much or as quickly as black tea. So if you want

to enjoy green tea without affecting your white

smile, you’ll want to remove as much plaque as you can

as frequently as possible (brush and floss). That’s good advice,

anyway.

Low-Fat Yogurt

Everyone knows that you need calcium for healthy teeth and bones.

One cup of yogurt has 300 mg of calcium and many brands add

vitamin D to help the absorption and utilization of calcium so it’s

being put to use. “Live” cultures in yogurt also act as “probiotics,”

helping put good bacteria into your digestive system. This includes

the mouth. Studies show that low-fat, sugar-free yogurt has a

positive effect on the dental biofilm, reducing decay and promoting

healthy gums.

Yogurt is also a great source of protein, vitamins, and some minerals

that are also important for healthy gums. It’s even been proven to

assist T cell function, which helps the body fight inflammation (gum

disease).

Suggestion: Try low-fat, plain yogurt, and add your own fresh fruit

(like berries). Sprinkle some flax seed on it for fiber and omega-3

fatty acids, which will also help fight inflammation.

There’s so much more to cover, but I hope I got you thinking about

how what you eat is effecting your mouth and your overall health.

Fighting inflammation, chewing properly, and controlling acid are

worthy goals. Food is our fuel. It can also be our medicine.

To your good health and wellness,

MichaelJonathan

“ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” continued from page 4 ...

MDH Values RDHsCustomized Results are the Best Results

A Look at Tooth-Colored Restorations

Macaroni & Cheese