Check Your Retainer (& other Dental Products) for Gluten (Really)

Do you have a retainer? It might contain gluten. Yes, a new study is finding that gluten, a common additive in plastics (particularly plasticized methacrylate polymer), can keep a celiac patient from going into full remission. Check with your dentist to see what your retainer and/or bite splint contains and research every ingredient that is not in plain language. 

Here's the direct study link:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24137038/?i=1&from=celiac+disease

Also check these other dental products - and please note that because these products do not fall under the regulations of "food", gluten may not be listed in the ingredients:

• Minted dental floss
• Toothpaste
• Polishing paste
• Flouride
• Topical Anesthetic

Read more . . .

Update 3/4/2014: Here is a post on Triumph Dining indicating that the study findings were not conclusive - that the plastics in the retainer material may not leach out enough over time to cause alarm.Two dieticians, Amy Jones, MS, RD and Tricia Thompson, MS, RD, contacted the lead author of the study and came to this conclusion:

Amy Jones, MS, RD and Tricia Thompson, MS, RD

The original study led the dietitians to contact the lead author. After discussing, both were still not convinced of the retainer’s guilt in the diagnosis. Due to the half life of tTG (which is 6 months) and an outdated report on the contents of methylmethacrylate (from 1971), Amy Jones and Tricia Thompson concluded that “enough gluten would leach from the retainer to cause an increase in tTG levels seems a bit extraordinary.” - See more at: http://www.triumphdining.com/blog/2014/03/04/is-there-a-link-between-orthodontic-retainers-and-gluten-intolerance/?utm_source=Triumph+Dining+List&utm_campaign=c4ab154054-Newsletter+7%2F23%2F13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9c15f454b-c4ab154054-122078121#sthash.PFDy2d3Q.dpuf

 The original study led the dietitians to contact the lead author. After discussing, both were still not convinced of the retainer’s guilt in the diagnosis. Due to the half life of tTG (which is 6 months) and an outdated report on the contents of methylmethacrylate (from 1971), Amy Jones and Tricia Thompson concluded that “enough gluten would leach from the retainer to cause an increase in tTG levels seems a bit extraordinary.

This may put some fears to rest, but this will be an interesting study to follow.

Is Gluten Your Beast? When Testing the GF diet, make sure it is REALLY gluten-free

The Tender Foodie speaks to a lot of people about their diet, and their reactions to food. 

CLEAR GLUTEN REACTIONS: With some people it is really clear - as soon as they have a beer, or bread, or pizza - they feel sick or get swollen joints, they feel tired, or have a headache, a runny nose, bloating and other signs of intestinal distress like diahrea or constipation. 

NOT CLEAR GLUTEN REACTIONS: Others believe that they react to gluten, but when they remove it from their diets, they find no change in how they feel.  My first question to them is:  have you REALLY removed the gluten?  Check your beauty products, your medication (can have fillers), personal care products like lotions, lip balms and shampoos, read labels of food and supplements super judiciously for hidden ingredients... and check your toothpaste for inactive ingredients (you might have to call the company who makes your products). And don't cheat.  If you have an allergy to gluten, this is a no brainer.  But if you can "get away with it", your brain tends to tell you that it isn't much of a problem anyway - beacuse gluten is tasty as heck.. and its flippin' everywhere.

But that doesn't mean that you should eat the gluten if it is behaving in a beastly manner toward you.

HOW LONG?  It is not easy to remove gluten, but if that is your issue, you will be glad you tried it.  Some sources say to try it for 3 weeks, others for 3 months.  But it depends upon what's going on in your gut.  Some people feel better after 3 days, others, because of underlying issues or intestinal damage can take longer. 

And if gluten isn't your issue... you can rule something out before you get to the underlying cause of what is keeping you from your beautiful, thriving life.