How Teeth Decay and How Houston Dentists and Hygienists Can Help
We cannot stress enough how important it is to see your Houston dental hygienist once every six months This will minimize the risk of tooth decay, and it will also provide you with access to the latest patient education materials regarding dental hygiene and self care.
While you are waiting for your next schedule visit, it is a good idea to get a head start on taking better care of your teeth.
The better your understanding of the decay process, the better equipped you'll be to maintain good dental health. Here's a basic rundown of the tooth decay process, start to finish.
Tooth decay starts with colonies of bacteria.
Bacteria are never loners. They live in colonies, and the colonies are big. Not all bacteria are harmful, however.
Thousands of bacteria already exist in your mouth. Most of them are beneficial. There are a few bacteria, however, that cause tooth decay. One in particular, streptococcus mutans, is a rather nasty variety that reproduces quickly and sets up large colonies wherever it’s given the chance to feast on starchy foods.
Another word for starches is carbohydrates, and you probably consume them every day in the form of pasta, bread, crackers, and sweets. These carbohydrates then build up on your teeth if you do not brush them regularly.
This buildup creates a sticky mixture of saliva, food debris and bacteria known as plaque.
Streptococcus mutans will eat any carbohydrate you eat. The starch it will eat most quickly eat 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.
When the bacteria eat the sugars in plaque, a chemical reaction starts. The sugars are broken down into simpler elements, and one of these elements is an acid called lactic acid. Lactic acid is the acid that makes your muscles tired. It also breaks down tooth enamel and weakens the overall integrity of the teeth.
Eventually, you end up with a hold on the surface of the tooth, where the acids dissolved the enamel. This hole is a cavity-- the visible evidence of tooth decay. Once you have a cavity, the only way we can fix this is to remove the decayed portion of the tooth and replace it with a cosmetic dental filling material.
The good news is, your Houston dental hygienist can show you how to avoid this. She can teach you the proper methods of brushing and flossing when you come to the Cosmetic Dentistry Center for a tooth cleaning and dental exam. If you follow the instructions given to you by your dental hygienist, brushing and flossing will prevent the buildup of plaque on your teeth.
This keeps the bacteria from having a feast on your teeth and building colonies that produce the acids that lead to tooth decay.
While you are waiting for your next schedule visit, it is a good idea to get a head start on taking better care of your teeth.
The better your understanding of the decay process, the better equipped you'll be to maintain good dental health. Here's a basic rundown of the tooth decay process, start to finish.
Tooth decay starts with colonies of bacteria.
Bacteria are never loners. They live in colonies, and the colonies are big. Not all bacteria are harmful, however.
Thousands of bacteria already exist in your mouth. Most of them are beneficial. There are a few bacteria, however, that cause tooth decay. One in particular, streptococcus mutans, is a rather nasty variety that reproduces quickly and sets up large colonies wherever it’s given the chance to feast on starchy foods.
Another word for starches is carbohydrates, and you probably consume them every day in the form of pasta, bread, crackers, and sweets. These carbohydrates then build up on your teeth if you do not brush them regularly.
This buildup creates a sticky mixture of saliva, food debris and bacteria known as plaque.
Streptococcus mutans will eat any carbohydrate you eat. The starch it will eat most quickly eat 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.
When the bacteria eat the sugars in plaque, a chemical reaction starts. The sugars are broken down into simpler elements, and one of these elements is an acid called lactic acid. Lactic acid is the acid that makes your muscles tired. It also breaks down tooth enamel and weakens the overall integrity of the teeth.
Eventually, you end up with a hold on the surface of the tooth, where the acids dissolved the enamel. This hole is a cavity-- the visible evidence of tooth decay. Once you have a cavity, the only way we can fix this is to remove the decayed portion of the tooth and replace it with a cosmetic dental filling material.
The good news is, your Houston dental hygienist can show you how to avoid this. She can teach you the proper methods of brushing and flossing when you come to the Cosmetic Dentistry Center for a tooth cleaning and dental exam. If you follow the instructions given to you by your dental hygienist, brushing and flossing will prevent the buildup of plaque on your teeth.
This keeps the bacteria from having a feast on your teeth and building colonies that produce the acids that lead to tooth decay.
Labels: Houston dental hygienists, houston dentists, tooth decay
posted by Dental Expert at
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