March 22: Red wine is doing the rounds again with all the miraculous cures it has to offer, including a Study recently claiming that two glasses of red wine before sleeping at night made you lose weight and another one claiming, a glass of wine daily is equivalent to an hour in the gym so it is hardly surprising to learn about a Research that the polyphenols could help prevent damaging microbes from attaching to the gums and a red wine tooth paste merited attention
It seems that Researchers from the Spanish National Research Council have found that the antioxidants contained in red wine, known as polyphenols, could be potentially effective in preventing damaging microbes from attaching to the gums. In turn, this will reduce a red-wine drinkers’ risk of developing serious health concerns such as gum disease and tooth decay.
But before you go reaching for the glass of red-wine mouth wash first thing in the morning or use that ‘Red Paste’ made from red wine, the study does come with some caveats, suggesting that the new information should be used to isolate the beneficial molecules from red wine, and harvested into preventive oral care.
The message has also raised some eyebrows in the medical community. “There is little doubt that polyphenols have huge benefits for our dental health, however, I would argue that these can be gained from less acidic and potentially damaging beverages such as green tea,” suggests Dr. Lewis Ehrlich, a holistic dentist from Sydney Holistic Dental Centre.
“The concern that I have is two-fold. One is that wine is very acidic and can damage enamel over time. The second is that regular consumption of wine can stain teeth,” explains Dr. Ehrlich, according to the Report in MensHealth.
In an informal oral survey of a few well known dental-hygiene specialists a few years ago when the first signs of the positive effects of wine on teeth and the gums surfaced, delWine was given the same explanation from practically every Indian dentists talked to. One such doctor was Dr. Ekta Chadha who specialises in ‘designer smiles’ for over 2 decades at her ‘Smile Studio’. She was quite vociferous about the acidity in the wine, especially white wines and felt long term use was bad for the gums and the plaque, though not discounting the benefits of resveratrol. She recommended fruits and other products like tea with anti-ageing effect instead and not extensive use of wine.
Whilst the Spanish study produced obvious results in relation to the benefits of polyphenols in regard to oral health specifically, Dr. Ehrlich’s concerns are echoed among the dental health community generally. Antioxidants can be found in a host of healthy foods, not only in wine.
Subhash Arora
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