Sugar and You

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Everyone loves Valentine’s Day candy, cookies, cakes and pie. As a nation, we’re hooked on sweet stuff in general. In fact, the average person consumes 156 pounds of sugar per year — and only a fraction of it comes out of the sugar bowl. The first association between sugar and tooth decay was during the reign of Elizabeth the First of Britain, who loved sweets…and had a lot of dental problems. Not much has changed, sugar still creates cavities, and worsens dental problems over time. If you love sugary sweets (and who doesn’t?) the best way to protect your teeth is regular dental check-ups and cleanings. Sugar provides food for the bacteria already living in your mouth.