good health

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Preventive Dentistry - Conception - The Father's Part:

 

Many people still think that only the mother has to worry about what she eats

and what type of environmental exposure is present before conception. However,

it takes two parents to make a healthy baby. To begin with, male fertility

cannot be taken for granted. Many factors can affect the number, strength, and

vitality of sperm and even the genetic material they carry. In fact, for some

reason, men's sperm counts worldwide have been dropping over the last 50 years.

 

Chemical pollution may be to blame. Some toxic chemicals, especially

insecticides, are known to be very damaging to sperm.

 

Smoking and sexually transmitted diseases are also making men sterile.

According to Dr. David Savitz of the School of Public Health at the Univ. of

North Carolina, Chapel Hill, men should protect themselves from even casual

exposure to lead, alcohol, cigarette smoke, illicit drugs, herbicides,

radiation, and some industrial solvents. Toxin-induced damage to sperm may

increase the risk of children with birth defects, childhood cancer, and subtle

behavioral problems. A father's exposure to chemicals also increases the risk of

miscarriage.

 

In addition, men who smoke are more likely to have children with a cleft lip and

palate, and both cigarette smoking and alcohol use by fathers increase the risk

of the baby's having a heart defect.

 

FROM HEALTHY TEETH for KIDS

 

Jerry MIttelman, DDS, FAPM

 

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