You might think you have your dental hygiene routine perfected – you brush twice a day and make sure to use floss at least once too. However, it’s time for a check-up again… and you have another cavity? Why is this happening?
Whilst the answer here is different for most people, there are still general reasons as to why you could be subject to decay and cavities.
How do cavities form in our mouths?
The protective outer layer of our teeth is made up of enamel. Each time you eat or drink, the bacteria that sits on your teeth will begin to give off an acid. This acid will slowly eat away at our teeth’s enamel. The more our mouth’s pH levels drop and become more acidic, the more our teeth will erode.
Grazing Isn’t Great!
After eating or drinking, our mouth’s pH level takes around 30-60 minutes to go back to normal. So if you’re eating very often, your mouth won’t have time to recover and the process will be starting again.
So, in theory, eating a bowl of strawberries in 10 minutes is better for your teeth than making your way through them over the course of an hour. Your teeth will only be exposed to the sugars in the strawberries for 10 minutes rather than over and over again for 60 minutes. The sooner your mouth’s acid levels start to neutralise, the sooner your teeth start remineralising, the better.
How can I boost my teeth to remineralise?
Saliva flow is the best thing for balancing out your mouth’s pH levels. It also helps to flush away harmful bacteria and food particles. Saliva is magical stuff – the same minerals as what is in your teeth, calcium and phosphate are present in it. So, after you’ve finished eating, your saliva will help restore this in your teeth.
You can’t leave it all down to saliva, however! This is where fluoride comes in to help. Using fluoride toothpaste and drinking fluoridated tap water aids in protecting your enamel by making it stronger.
What time is best to brush my teeth?
Brushing your teeth twice a day is good practice – but you need to get the timing right too.
Brushing your teeth in the morning is very important as overnight, plaque-causing bacteria will be multiplying, so it will need to be removed.
Brush before you eat or drink anything other than water in the morning, otherwise, you risk brushing the sugars and acids into your teeth and causing more damage.
If you must brush after eating, you need to leave at least 30 minutes before doing so. If you need to freshen your mouth immediately after a meal, it is best to only use mouthwash or chew sugar-free gum until the 30-minute mark.
Brushing your teeth just before bed is just as important as it will limit the prolonged exposure of acid in your mouth whilst you sleep.
If you have any questions about your oral health routine or have a dental issue that needs to be addressed, please contact our team at Glandwr. We will do our best to assist you.
