Eating sweets is bad for your teeth, but do you know why? Do you know that even eating ‘good’ foods can be bad for your teeth or that eating at certain times during the day is better than others? If you don’t understand that when and what you eat can affect your teeth, then read on.
The problems all revolve around plaque, that sticky, whitish substance that covers your teeth after you eat. As you probably already know, carbohydrates break down into sugars, the fructose, maltose, glucose and lactose that fuel our bodies. We think this process happens after food leaves our mouths, while en route to our digestive tracts.
That’s true for many foods, but some foods begin breaking down right in our mouths. These foods are referred to as fermentable carbohydrates. Bacteria living on your teeth use the sugars found in fermentable carbohydrates like cookies, crackers, cake, soft drinks, cereal, even bananas to produce very strong acids.
These acids can cause demineralization, a process by which the minerals inside a tooth’s enamel begin to dissolve. Damaging acids are continually produced as long as these foods remain in contact with the tooth bacteria.
That’s why sipping soda all afternoon is more damaging than drinking an entire can during your meal and why sticky foods (potato chips, raisins) and foods that get stuck in the crevices of molars can do more damage than foods that don’t stick. Those who snack on sugary foods throughout the day also have a higher incidence of tooth decay.
Fortunately, the body can combat demineralization with a process called remineralization. Saliva facilitates the remineralization process by helping to neutralize damaging acids. Therefore, foods and sugar-free gum that help increase saliva are good choices for combating tooth decay. However, when remineralization takes place more slowly than demineralization, in other words when the process is out of balance, tooth decay may still result.
Eating disorders such as binge eating where an individual consumes large quantities of food only to purge them shortly afterwards also causes serious mineral loss because of all the stomach acids that come into the mouth during a purging session. That’s why those suffering from eating disorders often experience tooth decay and demineralization.
When it comes to the teeth and your overall state of health, it’s a good idea to stick with the food categories and amounts advised by the US government in its updated Food Pyramid. The ‘good’ foods to choose include whole grains rather than refined grains, non-citrus fruits (citrus contains a lot of acid), dark green leafy vegetables, lean proteins and calcium-rich foods and beverages.
Cheese is a good food to eat for counteracting acids and so are chicken and nuts. Milk contains lots of minerals that can enhance the remineralization process. Fruits with high water content are also good because they promote saliva. Sugar-free gum that contains xylitol is a good choice as are sugar-free hard candies.
You should limit your intake of processed foods, sugary snacks, beverages containing or mixed with sugar and alcoholic beverages. Limit in-between meal snacking, too. Looking for a Dentist in the Fairfield Connecticut area? Call us at 203-255-5999 or visit our comprehensive website that www.1305Dental.com
As we all know, toothaches and any type of oral injury can be extremely painful and should be seen by a dentist immediately. Dental emergencies should be seen immediately by a dentist, day or night. These emergencies include broken teeth, teeth that have been knocked out, or teeth that have been forced out of the socket. With some emergencies, the cheeks, lips, or gums will have cuts or abrasions on them from where the teeth come out of the socket.
If you’ve had a tooth recently knocked out, the first thing you should do is look for that tooth. When you’ve found the tooth, gently scrub it to get rid of any dirt or debris. Once you have cleaned it, you should place it back in your mouth between the cheek and gums. Whatever you do, you should never try to put it back in the socket. If you can make it to the dentist in time, he may be able to put the tooth back in place.
If you’ve had a tooth come out of place, you can normally reposition it with your fingers. You shouldn’t use a lot of force, simply because it could damage the tooth. You shouldn’t force the tooth into place, rather try and jiggle it around. You can also use moist tissue to hold the tooth in place, until you can get to a dentist.
If you’ve got a fractured tooth, the treatment will all depend upon how bad the booth has been fractured. No matter how light the fracture may be, it is very important that you get to a dentist as soon as you can. Minor fractures aren’t that bad, as they can normally be smoothed out using sandpaper. Sometimes, the tooth can also be restored with a composite. Either way, you’ll need to make sure that you use extreme caution with the tooth for the next few days.
The more moderate fractures, normally include damage to the dentin, pulp, and even the enamel. These fractures can be nothing to worry about at times, yet painful with other cases. Providing the pulp hasn’t been damaged, your dentist will be able to restore the full shape and function to the fractured tooth. In cases where pulp damage has occurred, the dentist may need to do a root canal or other type of serious surgery to repair the tooth.
Whenever you encounter a dental emergency, you shouldn’t hesitate to contact a dentist immediately. Your dentist will be able to assist you, fix the problem, and stop the pain. Dental emergencies can happen at any time, so you should always the emergency number of a dentist who will be there at a moments notice. Tooth pain can be very excruciating – and you’ll obviously want to get the problem fixed immediately.
Part I introduced you to the key players involved in tooth decay and touched on the importance of maintaining a neutral pH level inside the mouth. This next part will elaborate on pH balance, the different types of cavities and what you can do to prevent tooth decay.
You’d never have to worry about tooth decay if you didn’t eat. Of course, you wouldn’t have to worry about much because you would die. But eat we do, every day, and the foods we choose aren’t always the best.
When we eat carbohydrates, the body breaks them down into sugars including sucrose, fructose, maltose, dextrose and glucose. Fermentable carbohydrates actually begin breaking down in the mouth (as opposed to the digestive tract where other foods begin the process). If you eat cookies, cake, chips, crackers, candy, sugary drinks and cereal you are eating fermentable carbohydrates. Oh yes, Energy drinks fall in the category and is a growing problem among the health conscience!
When the sugars in these foods interact with the bacteria in the mouth, acids are produced. Acids are what cause a drop in pH level. When pH drops to 5.5 or lower, the drop causes the minerals inside the teeth to start dissolving. This is demineralization.
This loss of minerals weakens teeth. The damage will continue for as long as pH is at or lower than 5.5. Remember brushing teeth returns pH to a neutral level, between 6.2 and 7.0 which is why brushing is so important in preventing tooth decay. Some of the bacteria inside your mouth love sugar so as long as sugar is present, these bacteria keep producing more and more acid.
Tooth decay begins inside the tooth, as demineralization takes hold. Remineralization from fluoride and saliva can defend against decay at this early stage. If left untreated though, the spot where the decay began grows. Once the decay spreads through to the enamel, the damage cannot be reversed. You’ve now got a cavity.
With a break in the enamel, food particles can get inside the tooth and cause pain. That’s when you’ll show up at the dentist begging for help. The dentist will clear away the debris and decay and fill the cavity. If you don’t get the cavity filled, the decay can spread into the dentin and even to the pulp and the nerves.
Acute caries (the proper term for cavity) develop quickly, in just a few months. Children whose enamel tends to be weaker and young adults are more prone to acute carries. Chronic carries take longer to progress, and sometimes don’t progress much at all. Older individuals are more prone to this type of cavity. When decay forms in the roots, root caries develop and they too are more common in older individuals. When decay continues to form even after a cavity has been filled or a crown has been put into place, that is called recurring decay.
Only you can prevent cavities and it’s not that hard if you brush and floss regularly to remove bacteria, drink fluorinated water, seal the teeth that are most vulnerable, and limit your intake of fermentable carbohydrates.
Everything You Need to Know About Cavities – Part I
The pain definitely tells us when we have cavities, but few of us understand why we get them. You likely know that poor dental hygiene causes cavities, but do you understand why not brushing or flossing causes cavities?
In order to understand all that’s involved in the making of a cavity, you’ve got to first understand the key players. Those players include saliva, pellicle, plaque and calculus and each resides in the mouth.
Saliva is really important when it comes to protecting teeth and keeping our mouths healthy. Saliva keeps teeth, gums and other tissues inside the mouth lubricated and moist. Saliva helps break food down while eating, and afterwards it washes away some of the bits of food that get stuck on teeth. Saliva also can neutralize acids which lowers the amount present in the mouth. Interestingly, it can even help protect us against certain viruses and bacteria.
If you’ve ever noticed a slippery feeling on your teeth right after you brush, that’s the result of proteins in saliva called pellicle. Pellicle coat teeth after brushing by absorbing into the surface. The pellicle gives teeth an extra layer of protection against decay-causing acids. Unfortunately, bacteria and microorganisms can easily attach to the pellicle and this is actually the stage during which plaque begins to develop.
If you were to look at the white sticky substance on your teeth through a microscope, you’d realize that plaque consists of yeast, microorganisms, bacteria, protozoa, mycoplasmas, white blood cells, food particles, body tissues and viruses.
If people realized that, surely they’d do a better job brushing and flossing! Several hours after brushing is when plaque starts to develop and in just one hour, a good amount will accumulate. If left untouched other microorganisms join the mix, thickening the plaque and turning on its destructive powers.
Bacteria are in the mouth too and they’re always present in both good and bad form. The good bacteria help us fight colds and other illnesses. The bad intensify the tooth decaying process. Streptococcus mutans is the worst, producing acid while attaching to teeth. Lactobacillus only can attach to plaque so it doesn’t do quite as much damage. Several other bacteria located inside the mouth contribute to tooth decay and periodontal disease.
To summarize, decay begins when bacteria start attaching themselves to the pellicle. Six or so hours later, plaque begins to form. The bacteria present in your mouth produce acids, and these acids, by throwing the pH balance of your mouth out of balance, cause tooth decay. In the case of tooth decay, a process called demineralization begins when the pH level inside the mouth drops below 5.5.
Remember, this chain reaction begins the moment you finish brushing your teeth. But brushing is what continually returns the pH level in your mouth back into the range of 6.2 and 7.0, which is considered neutral. That’s why brushing and flossing are so important in fighting tooth decay.
Part II will further elaborate on the importance of a neutral pH level in preventing tooth decay.
How long has it been since you started using that toothbrush you used this morning? Is it fairly new? Is it a month old? Two? Three? Is it older than that? If you’re still using the same toothbrush you were using three months ago or worse, even longer, then get yourself to the store and purchase a new one as soon as possible!
You need to regularly replace your toothbrush because over time, the bristles are going to start breaking down. You’ll know when this is happening because they’ll start looking frayed and they’ll flare outwards. Once this breakdown starts to happen, it’s not going to be possible for your toothbrush to work as effectively or efficiently as one with bristles that are standing straight up.
If your toothbrush is relatively new but you’ve just gotten over a cold or the flu, or if you’ve had a cold sore, an infection in your mouth, or a sore throat, it’s a good idea to throw out the toothbrush you used during that sickness or infection. Bacteria can live among a toothbrush’s bristles and using that toothbrush may cause reinfection.
Bacteria can also grow on toothbrush bristles when you haven’t been sick, especially if bristles aren’t thoroughly rinsed after each use. Food particles can remain on bristles and that can lead to the development of bacteria, another reason why frequently changing your toothbrush is a good idea.
After you’ve finished brushing your teeth, it takes only a moment to ensure that your toothbrush is clean. Remember, its job is to remove food particles and plaque from your teeth, which it does, but sometimes those particles that have been removed will stick between the bristles of your toothbrush. While you are rinsing the excess toothpaste and foam from the toothbrush, be sure to rinse away any food particles too. When you’re done rinsing, take a close look at the bristles. If needed, rinse again.
Some people think that sticking their toothbrush in the dishwasher or the microwave oven is an effective way to clean/sanitize it. The truth is, these environments are too harsh for most toothbrushes and will only cause them to become damaged.
After you’ve rinsed your toothbrush, it needs to air dry to inhibit the growth of bacteria. Always store your toothbrush upright in an open container. Don’t lie it down inside a drawer and don’t enclose your toothbrush inside a case or other type of airtight container. With no air circulation, the moisture will create an environment ripe for bacteria growth.
To prevent cross-contamination, you never want the head of your toothbrush to touch the head of another toothbrush either. It’s also not a good idea to share your toothbrush with others. To date, there’s not been any solid proof that toothbrush sanitizers or mouth rinses with antibacterial agents offer any better protection than good cleaning habits so read the product’s claims carefully before making any purchases.
And always remember – when in doubt, throw it out!
Brushing your teeth properly is an effective way of removing plaque, that sticky white substance that grows in between and along the bottom of teeth and along the gum line. But rarely will tooth brushing alone remove all plaque, no matter how good a job you do.
To ensure you remove every bit of plaque from your teeth, you’ve got to remember to floss. While most people will make the effort to brush in the morning and at night, few take that extra step of flossing. Rather than flossing daily, they’ll floss weekly or worse, they just don’t floss at all.
Flossing takes a bit of time and a lot of coordination which probably is why so many choose to skip this step. But like any habit, if you’re willing to practice and repeat the process, in a few weeks you’ll be flossing daily like a pro.
As you chew your food, some of it gets trapped in the spaces between teeth. The closer the space, the more difficult those particles are to remove with the bristles of a toothbrush. And when it comes to the molars, it’s difficult to position the toothbrush so that it adequately gets between them.
When you floss, you wrap what looks like a length of thread around one or more fingers on both hands, and then work the thread up into the crevices between teeth. You don’t use normal sewing thread as that could damage the gums. Instead you use floss, which can either be uncoated or coated with a wax. To add a bit of excitement to the task, floss now comes in a variety of flavors and some brands even resist shredding!
As you move the floss back and forth, up and down the space between teeth, that action loosens the plaque from those hard-to-get-at spaces that toothbrush bristles can’t reach.
Some people wrap floss around their fingers while others just hold it between their fingers. How it’s held doesn’t matter as long as you have a firm grip and a segment that you can work with. With a back and forth motion, gently work the floss in between two teeth. This protects gums. Then wrap floss around an inside edge of a tooth by making a ‘c’ shape with the floss. Moving gently from base of tooth to gum line, use the floss to scrape the plaque from the tooth. Repeat for all teeth and don’t forget the molars. Flossing those teeth can be awkward at first, but it’s absolutely necessary.
You need only floss once a day, so choose morning or evening and stick with that time. You may wish to floss more often, especially after eating popcorn or other foods that tend to stick between teeth. Floss isn’t expensive so use as much as you need, as often as you need.
Never rush your flossing session and never floss aggressively. Both can cause gums to bleed or become damaged. You actually want to avoid coming into contact with the gums as much as possible.
