Here’s some good news for red wine drinkers and just in time for Mother’s Day.
Some of us love to have a glass of red wine with dinner every once in a while. Of course, the catch is that it often leaves the teeth stained, so maybe it’s not such a good idea to order it on your first date or while out on a business dinner.
There are a lot of reasons to think that it might NOT be bad for your oral health.
There are many reasons to like a glass of a Merlot or Cabernet, even beyond the deep flavors enhancing the meal and making it seem richer and more sophisticated. Red wine has actually been found to bring many health benefits. have shown that it could help to keep the brain young, and previous research has tied it to hormonal health as well as heart disease prevention.
Many of the health benefits of red wine come from its polyphenols, which are a series of micronutrients with antioxidant properties. Polyphenols are nutritional superheroes with many secret weapons, and one of these is their positive impact on our gut bacteria. With that in mind, in a new study, scientists compared the effect of two types of polyphenol typically found in red wine (caffeic acid and p-coumaric acid) on three harmful oral bacteria.
What they found was that the two red wine polyphenols caffeic acid and p-coumaric acid were most effective at repelling the harmful oral bacteria and preventing them from attaching to healthy tissue.
So go ahead — pour yourself a glass of red wine (in moderation of course), safe in the thought that red wine, at least, won’t cause you any oral suffering.
Our are accepting new patients! To request an appointment, call the Grandville Dental Health Center at (616) 531-0360.