{"id":1531,"date":"2025-01-01T12:15:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T12:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/?p=1531"},"modified":"2025-01-01T12:15:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T12:15:37","slug":"happy-new-year-new-body-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/?p=1531","title":{"rendered":"Happy New Year! New Body Anyone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>FRAILITY………………………………………………………………………….VIRILITY<\/p>\n

I have been a family physician for over 35 years!\u00a0 I\u00a0 kinda miss my younger body.\u00a0 I know it is not coming back but there are some things one can do to improve.\u00a0 I don’t know where you are on the continuum above, but wherever you are, there is wiggle room for change!<\/p>\n

In the year ahead, I am going to explore different aspects of aging and what can be done to slow it down a little.\u00a0 \u00a0Every few weeks, I will talk about a different topic.\u00a0 I would love some company along the way…..and would appreciate any comments please!<\/p>\n

Let’s start with your MOUTH (oropharynx)<\/p>\n

Your MOUTH is part of your gastrointestinal track.\u00a0 The GI track extends from your mouth to your “other end.”\u00a0 In between there are a lot of different places that could be good stopping points (for discussion – not food).\u00a0 Anyway, beyond your mouth there is your esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine.\u00a0 All told this is about 30 feet of track.\u00a0 If it wasn’t curled up and packed so well we would take up a lot more room!<\/p>\n

As you age you may develop a decrease in saliva (spit) production and develop a DRY MOUTH.\u00a0 Certain medications can make this worse.\u00a0 A common one that causes mouth dryness is benadryl.\u00a0 Eventually, the transfer of food from your mouth to your\u00a0 pharynx (throat) may be altered.\u00a0 Studies have shown that up to 60% of older people without any symptoms have some abnormal transfer of food from their mouth to their throat<\/p>\n

Also, your mouth has a lining called the oral mucosa.\u00a0 As you get older, this lining gets thinner.\u00a0 Your gums tend to recede.\u00a0 This in turn causes the base of the tooth\u00a0 to be exposed and you become more susceptible to root cavities. You may lose some of your teeth and not be able to chew your food as well.\u00a0 This in turn can affect your nutritional intake.<\/p>\n

In addition, inadequate flossing of your teeth can lead to increased inflammation of the gums.\u00a0 Chronic inflammation has been linked to a variety of diseases.\u00a0 Your dentist bugging you to floss is NOT JUST ABOUT YOUR TEETH!\u00a0<\/p>\n

So………..\u00a0 what are a few steps to take in the new year to protect this little area of your body and avoid downstream consequences?<\/p>\n

1 – IF YOU HAVE TEETH, take care of them.<\/p>\n

2- If you have not been getting regular dental cleanings, start.<\/p>\n

3- Floss daily (gently)<\/p>\n

4- Avoid medications that cause oral dryness (benadryl is one such medicine)<\/p>\n

5- AVOID sugary foods, especially at night right before bed.<\/p>\n

6- AVOID COLA DRINKS – They have a low pH and drinks with\u00a0 a pH <4.0 are potentially harmful to your teeth<\/b>. \u00a0The pH of cola drinks is\u00a0 2.6 (I have been binging on diet lemonade which is pretty acidic and think I need to stop) Water is good.\u00a0 Water is neutral<\/p>\n

7- AVOID smoking.\u00a0 It causes some pretty nasty mouth cancers.<\/p>\n

Your\u00a0 “new body” can start with good mouth care.<\/p>\n

Remember, your mouth may not be what you think of first when considering a new body.\u00a0 But it is directs a lot of traffic and needs a lot of care!\u00a0 It’s a good place to start…..and we can move on from there!<\/p>\n

MAY YOU BE happy, HEALTHY, and wise in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FRAILITY………………………………………………………………………….VIRILITY I have been a family physician for over 35 years!\u00a0 I\u00a0 kinda miss my younger body.\u00a0 I know it is not coming back but there are some things one can do to improve.\u00a0 I don’t know where you are on the continuum above, but wherever you are, there is wiggle room for change! In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,40,26],"class_list":["post-1531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-diet","tag-health","tag-sugar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5WySj-oH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1531"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1556,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531\/revisions\/1556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}