{"id":2078,"date":"2012-10-30T15:28:05","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T15:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/?p=2078"},"modified":"2012-10-30T15:28:05","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T15:28:05","slug":"protecting-your-lips-for-a-beautiful-healthy-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/protecting-your-lips-for-a-beautiful-healthy-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Your Lips for a Beautiful, Healthy Smile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Protecting Your Lips for a Beautiful, Healthy Smile<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By Arthur Glosman DDS<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s truly more than lip service. For a healthy, beautiful, younger-looking smile, I tell my patients to take good care of their whole mouth \u2013 from the inside out \u2013 paying special attention to the lips which need extra protection, especially from the sun\u2026all year around, even in the Fall, regardless of where you live!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Our lips get used a lot\u2026they\u2019re prone to being used and abused.\u00a0They\u2019re used for talking, eating, emoting, and breathing \u2013 all activities that we do constantly throughout the day. To top it off, they have an extremely thin, very sensitive layer of skin lacking in sweat glands and sebaceous glands. Sebaceous glands &#8211; though the bane of teens fighting acne &#8211; are actually one of skin\u2019s best friends as sebaceous glands secrete<em>\u00a0sebum<\/em>, an oily, waxy matter whose role is to lubricate and protect your skin. When compared to the skin on the rest of your face \u2013 because of the lack of sweat glands, our lips are the most vulnerable to drying out. In fact, research shows you lose up to 10 times more moisture through your lips than you do elsewhere on the face or the body. We need to make sure we protect them from the sun, wind, dry air, irritant foods and beverages, and our owning picking and licking.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As a dentist, I tell my patients to take good care of their lips by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Avoiding the midday sun, even in the fall and winter.<\/strong>\u00a0Sunlight is strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., so try to schedule outdoor activities for other times of the day, even in the fall and winter or when it&#8217;s cloudy. You absorb UV radiation year-round, and clouds offer little protection from damaging rays. Keep in mind that sunlight is more intense when it reflects off water, sand, and snow\u2026all activities that are especially enjoyable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Adding moisture<\/strong>. If you&#8217;re getting eight glasses a day, but your lips are still parched, try adding moisture to your environment. A good humidifier can keep the air in your home from evaporating too quickly, which will reduce the amount of moisture being drawn from your lips exacerbating dry, chapped lips.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Using sunscreen around the delicate lip area all year around.<\/strong>\u00a0Not only will a good lip balm protect you from the sun\u2019s harmful rays, it will also help prevent chapping and dryness as well. Sunscreens that are made for lips, such as lip balms, are less irritating than those made for the skin. Choose a lip balm that has\u00a0an SPF of at least 30.\u00a0Apply it generously and reapply every two hours or as needed. I tell my patients to use a broad-spectrum sunscreen whenever possible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Avoiding tanning beds.<\/strong>\u00a0Tanning beds emit UVA rays, which penetrate deeper into your skin and are more likely to cause cancerous lesions than the sun. If you can\u2019t resist the sun-tanned look, choose self-tanning lotions or sprays, but be sure to always avoid the lips.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Becoming aware that some medications make your lips more sensitive.<\/strong>\u00a0Some common prescription and over-the-counter drugs can make your lips more sensitive to sunlight or cause them to be chapped and dry. These include some antibiotics, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) and for the teens &#8211; the acne medication isotretinoin (Amnesteem, Claravis, Sotret). Ask your doctor or pharmacist about the side effects of any medications prescribed. If they irritate your lips or make them more sun sensitive, take extra precautions and see a doctor as dry, discolored lips \u2013 outside the typical chapped lips or cold sore \u2013 could be a sign of a more serious underlying medical problem.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Watching where they put their lip<\/strong><strong>s<\/strong>.\u00a0Be a bit more discerning when it comes to sharing your lips. It might sound obvious, but I constantly remind my patients not to kiss anyone with a sore or infection on their mouth or face \u2013 even family members. Viruses, fungi, and bacteria can easily enter cracks in the lips&#8217; thin skin. And consider this: by age 50, nearly 90 percent of Americans have been exposed to herpes simplex 1 or 2, the viruses that cause unsightly and emotionally bothersome cold sores.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Flossing regularly<\/strong>. Everyday I\u2019m reading more research linking poor flossing habits to serious disease such as heart disease and diabetes. And if your lips are cracked, it could be a sign of a dental infection that flossing could have helped prevent.\u00a0 Floss twice a day or after every meal. Carry floss picks for discrete, on-the-go flossing after meals out with friends or family.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Eating a healthy diet<\/strong>.\u00a0Your lips are dependent on a steady intake of anti-oxidants, vitamins, and minerals so enjoy the bounty of healthy Fall fruits and vegetables which can help soothe and condition lips. Vitamins B and E are especially important for healthy lips. Pumpkin, filled with vitamins C, A, and E also offers anti-oxidants from carotenoids. Research shows that pomegranate juice has more inflammation-fighting antioxidants than red wine or green tea so eat\/drink it regularly or use it in an age-fighting scrub around the lip area to remove the dead skin around the lip area, helping to decrease the appearance of wrinkles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Performing regular lip checks.<\/strong> Examine your lip often for lip growths or changes in existing skin around the area. Make sure your dentist is performing a lip and mouth exam for lesions and other abnormalities as part of their routine dental exam. Lip sores can be temporary, chronic, or episodic. And lip sores can be nothing much to worry about, easily treatable, or cause for greater concern.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s more than lip service. Protecting your lips\u00a0should be as important as protecting the rest of your skin. While most lip problems are temporary and minor, lip infections and lip cancer can be troublesome. As fall approaches, take precautions so you can have both beautiful and healthy lips. As I tell my patients, a beautiful, healthy smile is one of the easiest and fastest ways to make you look and feel younger. Dentists, aestheticians, medical doctors, and other health and beauty professionals can not only be the first line of defense in detecting lip problems, but also in helping their clients attain beautiful, healthy smiles.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bio:<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Arthur Glosman, DDS is a\u00a0graduate of the prestigious University of Southern California\u2019s dental school, Dr. Glosman was recently named by <em>Tatler<\/em> magazine as \u201cone of the premiere dentists in the United States.\u201d He is also named as one of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Top Dentists\u201d and was noted for his \u201cExcellence in Cosmetic Dentistry\u201d by the esteemed Consumers\u2019 Research Council of American (2010). His unique, customized approach is known as the Glosman DentaLift and the Glosman LipLift. For more information, visit:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.arthurglosmandds.com\" target=\"_blank\">arthurglosmandds.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protecting Your Lips for a Beautiful, Healthy Smile By Arthur Glosman DDS &nbsp; It\u2019s truly more than lip service. For a healthy, beautiful, younger-looking smile, I tell my patients to take good care of their&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-featured-articles","7":"category-happy-healthy"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2078"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2100,"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions\/2100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beautyconsultantmagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}