tooth decay Archives - Champion Dental

Why You Should Avoid Sugar Before Bed to Keep Teeth Healthy

Posted on May 30, 2023 | by mel | Leave a Comment

Eating Before Sleeping Without Brushing Your Teeth Is Bad

When it comes to your teeth, there is no doubt that sugar is one of the worst substances for your dental health. Although everyone loves its sweet taste and often find it difficult to get enough of it in candy, sodas, and desserts, it can easily damage your teeth and gums. If you want healthy teeth, you will want to avoid eating sugar if you are going to bed and not brushing your teeth.

Sweets and Your Teeth

Many people enjoy eating comfort foods before going to bed. Besides the effects of sugar giving you an extra burst of energy when you are trying to go to sleep, leaving it on your teeth overnight will lead to tooth decay and faster cavities.

When you eat a snack before going to bed and do not brush your teeth, it will lead to damaged enamel on your teeth. This will lead to problems because you cannot regrow tooth enamel. You will need to go to a dentist to repair it.

The Problem with Sugar

There are more than 500 types of bacteria that are naturally found in your mouth. When your mouth is healthy, the bacteria – good and bad – are normally kept in balance.

When the bad bacteria consume sugar, it will produce acid as a result. It is this acid that causes cavities and gum disease. It erodes the enamel from your teeth, causing the enamel to grow thinner, leading first to sensitive teeth, then to cavities.

Brushing your teeth at least twice a day helps to reduce the amount of acid that stays on your teeth, protecting them for a while. Of course, the layer of bacteria that is always forming on your teeth – called plaque – will slowly rebuild through the day and night.

Your saliva naturally helps to control the bacteria and acid, too, and it helps to wash it away from your teeth. It does not wash it all away. If you have dry mouth, which can be caused by medications, alcohol, and some diseases, you need to ensure that you stay hydrated. When you have insufficient amounts of saliva and do not stay hydrated, you will develop cavities much faster as the bacteria multiply more than usual and produce more acid. You will also be very likely to develop gum disease and it will also progress faster than usual. You naturally produce less saliva at night.

Not Brushing Your Teeth

If you eat something with sugar in it, or carbs, before going to bed and do not brush your teeth, you already have a considerable amount of plaque on your teeth from the day. Now that you have given the bacteria and acid a head start, they will now continue to produce even more – causing even more dental erosion.

The same bacteria can also cause gum disease. This is because the acid irritates the gums. The more bacteria and acid there is, the more irritation there will be. Soon, an autoimmune reaction will start, and you have gum disease. Maintaining good oral hygiene can help keep these bacteria under control and it will reduce its effects on your teeth.

Tips for Keeping Sugar Off Your Teeth

Sugar comes in many forms and you may not even be aware of some of them. Even the smallest amounts of sugar can give some bacteria enough to produce acid on your teeth. Another thing you must know is that every time that this bacterium consumes sugar it will produce acid for the next 20 minutes.

This is also true for every sip of a sugary drink, such as soda, specialty coffees or tea, or fruit juice. If you are going to be sipping on a sweet drink all day long, you are exposing your teeth to acid all day long. Besides the acid that the bacteria produce, there is going to be additional acid in some of these drinks. Coffee, tea, wine, fruit juice, and others have their own acid your teeth will have to contend with. Diet sodas, even though they may not have sugar in them, they have acid – as do most sodas.

Limit Sugary Drinks to Meals – Because of the acid and sugar in many drinks, it is a good idea to limit yourself to drinking it at a meal. Once the meal is complete, be sure to rinse your mouth out with water, and brush your teeth later. During the day, when you need a drink, drink water.
Avoid Sticky Foods – Foods that will stick between your teeth, such as potato chips, soft candy, breads, etc., will get stuck between your teeth. This enables the bacteria to multiply and produce acid longer – on your teeth.
Brush Twice a Day and Floss – While you want to brush after meals, you should wait about 20 minutes or more before brushing. The enamel on your teeth is softened from your meal, which can cause you to lose some microscopic pieces of your enamel if you brush too soon.

You can enjoy your smile longer if you reduce sugar to help maintain healthy teeth. Eating right will also strengthen your teeth and gums. If you suffer from tooth decay or gum disease, give a call to 214-747-0763, Champion Dental Clinic, Farmers Branch, Texas for the best affordable treatment

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Baby Teeth Cavity – Should It Be Filled or Not?

Posted on March 24, 2023 | by mel | Leave a Comment

Can an Untreated Cavity Affect New Teeth?

Although it may surprise some people, baby teeth are just as susceptible to getting cavities as regular teeth. This means that daily care of baby teeth is as much needed as the permanent teeth will require later. When there is a baby teeth cavity, it is often important to fill it rather than to ignore it.

The Source of Cavities

When it comes to tooth decay, there is one basic cause – bacteria. Some of the more than 500 different types of bacteria in the human mouth produce acid whenever they come in contact with sugar. By leaving the bacteria on the teeth (plaque) for prolonged periods of time, it gives the acid opportunity to slowly erode the enamel on the teeth. This soon leads to cavities in many people – and young children.

The Cause of Cavities in Kids

Baby teeth (also called milk teeth) have several ways that they can develop cavities. It is important to know that some toddler’s teeth are not as resilient to cavities as other children. Some children can take care of their teeth and develop cavities, and other children may eat lots of sugar and have poor oral care and not develop cavities. While it may run in families, it is not always the case.

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay – Leaving a baby with a bottle of milk or juice to fall asleep with is something that many parents do. Unfortunately, it only promotes the growth of the bacteria and acid that causes cavities. Water is a much better and healthier option.
Juice Is Acidic – While juice without added sugar is generally healthy, it needs to be remembered that it is acidic. This adds to the acids created by the bacteria in the mouth and will speed up decay. Drinking water afterward will help remove the sugar and acid.
Too Much Sugar – Kids naturally love sugar, but parents often give them too much. Some kids are eating as much sugar as is recommended for adults, which should not surprise anyone that it leads to tooth decay. The sugar promotes the growth of the bacteria that produces the acid that destroys tooth enamel.
A Lack of Fluoride – Fluoride is a mineral that helps strengthen the teeth against cavities. It helps the teeth to regain minerals lost daily to acid. Even when children do drink water, if there is no fluoride in it, they are missing out on this important ingredient for teeth protection. While children under two years old do not need additional fluoride, those older than this do, but too much is also harmful.

Fluoride treatments can be given at the dentist’s office. The application of fluoride will help prevent cavities. It is especially important in children who may be more susceptible to cavities. It is applied as a foam, a gel, or a varnish. It can actually help eliminate a cavity if the cavity is in the very early stages.

Reasons to Have Baby Teeth Filled

Although baby teeth are only temporary, they are important. One of the reasons why they should be filled is because they help ensure that there will be sufficient space for the new tooth to come in. When a tooth is lost, teeth tend to naturally shift to fill in that space. This can cause problems for the new tooth.

Another reason why the milk tooth with a cavity should be repaired is that losing it can cause misalignment of the teeth. This may result in needing braces later on to correct the problem.

One more reason the tooth or teeth should be repaired is that it can affect ordinary activities. It could impair the child’s ability to speak clearly, which may mean he or she will need speech therapy later on. Front teeth are essential for proper speech.

Symptoms of Baby Tooth Decay

A tooth cavity is the result of the bacteria in the mouth. Although it is a common belief that some people have “soft teeth,” it is not true. The cause is bacteria and some people have higher levels of it than others. Dentists say that as many as 80 percent of all cavities occur in just 25 percent of children.

There may be several symptoms that your child has a cavity. They include white spots on the teeth, sensitivity to sweets, hot or cold, brown spots that may eventually turn black. Gums may also be inflamed.

Preventing Toddler Cavities

Parents can help prevent cavities in children by taking a few steps and working with their children. The first thing is to reduce their sugar intake. Limit the amount of juice and sugary foods the child gets, and give the child water in a sippy cup and in a bottle when they go to sleep.

You can also brush your teeth with the child to encourage them, and apply floss when two or more teeth are side by side. Apply a little fluoride toothpaste to the toothbrush after your child reaches two years old.

If your young children have a baby teeth cavity and need cavity treatment, contact Champion dental clinic for the best and affordable dental treatment

Things That Make Bad Teeth & Gums More Likely

Posted on March 7, 2023 | by mel | Leave a Comment

How to Avoid Cavities and Gum Disease

Although your teeth are very hard, there are some things that you do that can damage your teeth and gums. Some of them can lead to rapid tooth decay and dental caries (cavities). By avoiding those things, it may be possible for you to prevent dental decay.

The Cause of Dental Decay

One of the main causes of teeth problems is the bacteria in your mouth. There are more than 700 kinds of bacteria that are usually present in your oral cavity – your mouth. Some of them are good for your teeth, some do not make a difference, and some are really bad for your pearly whites.

The bad bacteria in your mouth are largely what cause tooth decay. It accumulates every day as a white film on your teeth. It is called plaque. The reason it is bad is that when you eat carbs and sugars, thistheseteria turn it into acid. The acid erodes the enamel on your teeth. It is also the bacteria that cause gum disease.

The other primary cause of tooth decay – which you control – is how much sugar you consume daily. The more sugar you eat, the more acid there will be in your mouth. If you sip sodas and specialty coffees all day, you are exposing your teeth to destructive acid all day. Some sodas have as much as nine teaspoons of sugar in each can – and their own acids.

How to Prevent Tooth Decay

Preventing tooth decay is largely in your hands. It is you that must take action to prevent it. Here are some steps that will show you how to prevent cavities.

Reduce Your Sugar Intake

Because the bad bacteria that produce the acid will always be in your mouth, you need to cut back on your sugar intake. Most Americans consume much more sugar than is healthy. Natural sugars really do not pose a problem, but the added artificial or refined sugars do. The American Heart Association (AHA) reveals that men should not eat more than 150 calories of added sugar per day (9 teaspoons), and women should not eat more than 100 calories each day (6 teaspoons).

Dry Mouth

When you have a dry mouth, this can damage your teeth and gums. The main reason is that saliva also helps to keep the bad bacteria under control. It washes some of it off your teeth and it also provides some minerals to help strengthen your teeth. A dry mouth will lead to cavities and gum disease if allowed to persist.

You can reduce your dry mouth symptoms by making sure you are hydrated, and by sipping water throughout the day. Some liquids are diuretics, which mean they help you eliminate water from your body. Coffee, tea, alcohol, and drinks with a lot of sugar in them will all have this effect. They will dry out your mouth more than if you drank regular water.

Not Eating Healthy Foods

Besides being heavy on the sugars and carbs, many foods that Americans regularly eat usually lack enough nutrients to keep family members healthy. The vitamins and minerals you gain by eating more fruits and vegetables help to stop tooth decay by ensuring that your body has enough of the right nutrients to strengthen your teeth. The same nutrients will also strengthen your immune system and help it to fight off gum disease and oral cancers.

Some foods are healthy for your teeth because they provide the nutrients your teeth need, or they help control the bad bacteria. Cheese and yogurt, apples, and leafy greens are among the most beneficial.

Lack of Proper Oral Hygiene

Developing good oral hygiene habits can help your teeth to last longer. Brushing your teeth twice a day will remove the plaque from your teeth. In order to do it right, though, you need to brush for at least two minutes each time. Flossing is also necessary because it will remove the food, sugars, and bacteria, from in between your teeth.

Proper oral hygiene can also help you prevent gum disease. It will keep the bacteria away from your teeth, and help prevent inflammation, too.

Sticky Foods

Foods that are sticky, such as candies and sweets, are also bad for your teeth. Sticky foods enable the bad bacteria to produce acid directly on your tooth’s surface for longer periods of time. These foods will also stay in between your teeth longer and they are harder to remove.

Get Regular Dental Checkups

When you want to prevent tooth decay, it is largely up to you. However, if and when dental problems do develop, you want them taken care of quickly. Regular visits to the dentist can enable problems to be spotted quickly – and treated quickly. This helps to minimize both the work that needs to be done and the cost. Letting problems become worse will only mean it will cost more to repair it.

Looking for routine dental checkup in Farmers branch, Texas? Call 214-747-0763 , Champion Dental Free First Exam + Free Whitening for Life* -* Terms & Conditions Apply

Stop This! – Make Your Teeth Live Longer?

Posted on January 23, 2023 | by mel | 4 Comments

Do You Have These 8 Bad Dental Habits?

Most people do not pay a lot of attention to their teeth – until there is a problem. The problem may become evident through bleeding gums, a toothache, a chipped tooth, or discoloration. The problems that can cause the dental issues are often preventable, like bad habits. Some habits that you want to avoid for better dental health include the following.

Eating Ice

A common habit that many people engage in is chewing ice. This is bad for your teeth because ice is hard and it can lead to cracked teeth.

Nail Biting

Nails are also hard, and biting your nails can lead to cracked teeth. The American Dental Association says that it can also lead to some jaw dysfunction because when biting your nails, it keeps your jaw in an extended position.

Playing Sports Without a Mouth Guard

Sports can be rough enough even when you are wearing a mouth guard. Not wearing one in a sport where hard objects, such as a baseball, football, hockey puck, etc., are flying in the air is a good way to lose a tooth, a filling, or chip one. Of course, getting tackled can also inflict dental pain. Mouth guards are easily purchased and can protect your teeth from a lot of problems, or your dentist can make one to custom fit your mouth and teeth.

Pierced Tongues

This popular trend can lead to a number of oral health problems. In addition to accidently biting down on it and cracking a tooth, you can also develop an infection. Your gums may also be damaged by it, which could lead to the loss of teeth.

Drinking Soda

As far as taking care of your teeth is concerned, drinking soda is one of the worst things you can do. Sodas are heavily laden with sugar, some containing as much as nine teaspoons in a single can.

The sugar in soda is bad for teeth because they cause the bad bacteria in your mouth to multiply. When they do, they will produce acids which will cause tooth enamel erosion and promote tooth decay.

Sodas are acidic beverages that contain two acids that will harm your teeth’s enamel – phosphoric and citric acid. A diet soft drink may not contain the sugar, but the acids in it are stronger than what is found in a regular soda.

Lemons and other citric fruits also contain a lot of acids. Although there are valuable vitamins in them, you should limit how much you drink. Constantly keeping acid in your mouth is very harmful to your teeth.

Eating Junk Food Snacks

Eating snacks that are laden with sugar is going to lead to cavities. Eating them throughout the day is even worse, because this means that there is a constant stream of sugar in your mouth promoting bacterial growth. This will lead to bad breath – as well as bad teeth.

Substituting junk food snacks for healthy ones is a better option that can help to promote strong teeth and better health. Eating a Mediterranean diet has been found to promote good dental health, besides having many other good health benefits. It basically consists of eating more fruits and vegetables, along with nuts, fish, and less red meat.

Smoking & Alcohol

Using tobacco in any form is also bad for your teeth – and for almost everything else in your body, too. It can give you problems such as bleeding gums, a sore throat and gums, stained teeth, and may even lead to oral cancer. Treating dental problems is made more difficult, because healing takes longer.

Alcohol can cause a number of dental problems that will damage your teeth. Whether it is beer or wine, etc., alcohol is acidic and can increase the damage caused by the bacteria in your mouth. Research has shown that as many as 70 percent of people with oral cancer drank alcohol heavily. When you also smoke, it increases the likelihood of getting this disease. Alcoholic beverages, like tea and coffee, will stain your teeth.

Ignoring Brushing and Flossing

The best thing you can do for your teeth, besides ignoring bad habits that may hurt them, is to brush and floss daily. It will help you keep your smile beautiful, and will be much cheaper than having to replace teeth at the dentist’s office.

Teeth should be brushed at least twice a day, and flossed one a day. This will help to remove food particles where bacteria can hide and grow – and produce enamel-destroying acids.

Drinking water shortly after eating or drinking sweet drinks or foods will help reduce the sugar and acids in your mouth. Doing so will also keep the bacteria levels down. It will also help to cut down the likelihood of developing stained teeth.

If you want to enable your teeth to stay healthy and live longer, it is necessary to stop harmful habits. If your teeth are already damaged and less than beautiful, you can have them repaired and restored to look beautiful again

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