How To Prevent Cavities or Tooth Decay:
Regular tooth brushing and flossing is a very important part of “how to prevent cavities, But….
The truth about healthy teeth is controlling your sugar in take. Control of dietary sugars is an often overlooked factor in cavity prevention. Cavities are formed with the following equation Bacteria + Sugar = Cavities. It’s that simple and in fact the only factor in the prior equation that can be controlled is Sugar. The way to control sugar is not to eliminate it from your diet, but rather to control the amount of time it is in your mouth. Dietary sugars come in contact with bacteria in your mouth and the by product is lactic acid. The acid erodes the protective enamel layer of your teeth. The amount of time sugar is in your mouth is directly related to the number of cavities formed in your teeth.
The top 5 ways to prevent cavities:
- Always brush after eating sweet sticky foods such as caramel, raisins and chocolates. Sticky foods stay lodged into the biting surfaces of your teeth and stay in your mouth long after eating.
- Avoid sipping on beverages that contain sugar throughout the day or over long periods time. For example, sipping on coffee with sweet hazelnut creamer or sugar all morning long. Also, beware of natural sugars such as honey in tea and fruit juices as they all contain sugar and will cause cavities.
- Avoid chewing gum and habitual eating of cough drops, tic tacs throughout the day. Believe it or not, even some sugar free gums can cause cavities. Just avoid all chewing gum unless you only chew it for a short period of time.
- Do not drink soda. Avoid soda. Did I mention not to drink soda? Also avoid diet soda. Soda is acidic and sweet. There is nothing worse than soda for teeth. Check out this video
- Brush your teeth two times per day and floss at least once per day. Rinse with an antiseptic rinse.
- Treat any clenching and grinding habits or TMJ / TMD problems. Clenching and grinding problems cause surface cracks in the protective enamel layers of your teeth where bacteria can get into and cause cavities. Clenching and grinding problems wear out your existing fillings and crowns prematurely and cause cavities to recur underneath your existing dental work.