We simply cannot emphasize enough just how important it is to schedule an appointment with your dental hygienist once every six months. Doing so will minimize the risk of tooth decay, and it will also provide you with access to the latest patient education principles that pertain to dental hygiene and responsible home-based self care.
While waiting for your next schedule visit, it is a good idea to give yourself a head start on taking better care of your teeth by understanding what tooth decay actually is, and what must be done to prevent it.
The better your understanding becomes, the better equipped you become in maintaining optimal dental health. The following represents a basic summary of how the process of dental decay happens in the mouth from start to finish.
Tooth decay begins with colonies of bacteria. When we say colonies, we mean big colonies. Bacteria are never loners, and because they are small, millions of them can thrive in a colony barely large enough for you to even see in the mirror.
Not all bacteria are harmful, however. Thousands already live in your mouth, and most of them are actually beneficial symbiotes that help your body work.
There are a few bacteria, however, that are malevolent and cause tooth decay. One particular strain, known as streptococcus mutans, is a rather nasty species that reproduces quickly and sets up large colonies wherever it has the opportunity to feast on starchy foods.
Another word for starches we are all familiar with is carbohydrates. You probably consume them every day if you eat any kind of pasta, bread, crackers, or sweets. These carbohydrates then build up on your teeth if you do not brush them as instructed by your dentist.
This buildup in turn creates a sticky mixture of saliva, food debris, and bacteria known as plaque.
Streptococcus mutans will eat any starch you ingest. However, its favorite starch is sugar. Unfortunately, the more refined the sugar is, the more the bacterial like it because they can digest it even faster than you can. This, of course, helps more of them spread through your mouth.
As bacteria eat the sugars in plaque, a chemical reaction begins to occur. The sugars are broken down into simpler elements, and one of these elements is lactic acid. Lactic acid is the acid that makes human muscles tired. It also breaks down tooth enamel and weakens the overall integrity of a tooth.
As the tooth weakens, you end up with a hole on the surface of the tooth where the acids dissolved the enamel. This hole is called a cavity-- the visible evidence of tooth decay. Once you have a cavity, the only way to fix it is to remove the decayed portion of the tooth and replace it with a cosmetic dental filling material.
Fortunately, your dental hygienist can show you how to avoid this. She can teach you the proper techniques of brushing and flossing when you see your dental hygienist for your biannual teeth cleaning. If you follow the instructions he or she provides you with, brushing and flossing will prevent the buildup of plaque on your teeth.
This prevents the bacteria from having a feast on your teeth and building the colonies that produce the acids that can cause cavities and tooth loss.
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