HEALTH - Why Green Tea Strengthens Your Teeth

New Study: Why Green Tea Strengthens Your Teeth …
"Got Green Tea?"
© 2012 Health Realizations, Inc

Adults have 32 permanent teeth (including wisdom teeth), which are designed to help you bite and chew food, and even help form words when you speak, for your entire adult life. There is a slight problem, though, and that is the human lifespan has been expanding while poor diet and other issues are causing teeth to decay.

A cup of green tea a day may help keep your teeth strong well into old age.

Now, experts say teeth are "evolved" to only last 45-50 years – which worked fine when life expectancy was not much older than that. Fortunately, humans can now expect to live much longer, even above and beyond 90 years … but our teeth have not caught up yet.
Adding to the problem is that teeth are not designed to self-repair, so once they become decayed or your gums are damaged, it’s difficult if not impossible to bring a tooth back to life, so to speak. The end result is that many of those in the over 40 crowd depend on crowns, bridges and implants to replace lost teeth. But for those who cannot afford such elaborate dental care, tooth loss can become a serious and painful health problem.
There are, however, ways to extend the life of your teeth and keep your choppers healthy well into old age. Among them, brand new research found a tasty beverage that may do wonders for your teeth …
A Cup of Green Tea a Day Keeps the Dentist Away …
Green tea contains antimicrobial molecules called catechins that appear very beneficial to your teeth. Researchers from Columbia University in New York found that men who drank at least one cup of green tea a day were 19 percent less likely to have fewer than 20 teeth than men who drank no tea. Women who drank tea daily also benefited with a 13 percent lower risk.
It’s thought that naturally occurring substances in green tea have bacteriocidal effects, helping to kill mouth bacteria and ward off tooth decay and gum disease. But there is one caveat -- you mustn’t add sugar. Adding sugar to tea completely negated the healthful effect.
As an aside, if you’re toying with the idea of adding a cup of green tea to your day, research shows it’s good for fighting diseases like heart disease and cancer and helping with weight loss. Many people sip it religiously everyday in the hopes that it will make them healthier, even above and beyond their teeth. Here is just a short list of some of the conditions green tea is supposed to help:

• Cancer
  
• Rheumatoid arthritis
  
• High cholesterol levels
  
• Heart disease
  
• Infection
  
• Impaired immune function
  
• Obesity, overweight
  
• High blood sugar levels
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