!!!!!WARNING!!!!! I AM ABOUT TO GET ON MY SOAP BOX!
The following entry is a bit preachy because I feel very strongly about the subject.
I have heard the phrases “I just have weak enamel” or “I got my mom/dad’s bad teeth”. These phrases are usually accompanied by a general woe is me attitude. This is one of the most frustrating things to deal with as a dental provider because it is not a physical disease, it is a mental one. This is an issue that I would like to address in the hopes that someone out there with this belief can see that the fate of their teeth is not already sealed.
First off, unless you have a connective tissue disorder, suck on lemons, have bulimia, or severe gastric reflux chances are there is nothing wrong with your enamel. Dental enamel is actually the hardest naturally occurring organic substance known to man. You have not inherited your more dentally unfortunate parent’s bad teeth, you have however inherited their bacteria, habits and dental IQ. Just because your parents or grandparents had dentures does not mean that your are destined for dentures! You have a choice here, arm yourself with knowledge.
When humans are born we do not actually have the cariogenic bacteria (the kind that causes cavities) present in our mouths. We get it from our well intentioned loved ones who pre-sample our baby food to see if it is cool enough, share bites with us when we offer them soggy goldfish crackers, and share drinks with us. They transfer their oral bacteria to us and we innocently accept it. Unfortunately the reason that “bad teeth” tend to run in families is because there is a familial low dental IQ. You would be amazed at how many adults do not know how to brush and floss properly. If they do not know how to care for their own teeth how are they expected to care for and educate their children.
Proper oral hygiene starts right after birth! You do not have to wait for your baby to get teeth to begin protecting their mouths from cavities. Make an effort to avoid inoculating your baby with your bacteria and encourage other loved ones to do the same. This is not easy, I fully realize that. I desperately tried to do this with my own children and although I never shared food with them, shared drinks or kissed them directly on their mouths, I could not for the life of me get my mother to do the same! It is also a good idea to get in the habit of gently wiping the baby’s mouth our with a clean, warm, moist washcloth after they nurse or have a bottle, not only does this establish a good routine but it gets the baby used to the idea that you will be cleaning their mouth and it removes the excess milk/formula which contains sugars that promote the growth of thrush causing yeast. If you have ever dealt with a baby with a thrush infection you know how unpleasant that can be and this is a wonderful way to help protect them. There are also finger tip brushes available at most stores that are rubber and fit on your finger and they have soft rubber bristles on the end which are very soothing and stimulating to your baby’s gums, especially when they are teething. Once your baby has teeth it is important to brush their teeth with infant toothpaste. You can use a brush or the finger brush previously discussed.
These Spiffies are great when you are on the go. There are other brands, I am not specifically advocating Spiffies, just the concept. Please do not allow your babies to go to bed with their bottles unless they have water in them. There is a problem known as ‘baby bottle tooth decay’. This happens because the baby sips on the bottle and then falls asleep with the milk or juice still in their mouth. That sugar is allowed to sit on the teeth for hours feeding the bacteria and leading to rampant cavities. This causes pain and is very difficult to treat. If the child is under the age of three which is considered to be ‘pre-cooperative’ they will have to be sedated in order to do the work which has risks and is very expensive. Please do not allow children to drink soda! Baby teeth do not have the same thickness of enamel that adults have and the effect of soda on baby teeth can be devastating!
This is what baby bottle tooth decay looks like: (I do not own the rights to these images and they are being used for purely educational purposes)
Children under the age of six need help brushing their teeth, they do not have the manual dexterity necessary to do it themselves. After six they should still be supervised and it may be necessary for you to get in there and brush the areas that they miss. Children’s teeth should be flossed as soon as there are teeth in contact with each other.
You should be brushing at least twice a day with an ADA approved toothpaste. It is important that you use a soft bristled toothbrush. Medium or hard bristled brushes actually do not do as good of a job cleaning your teeth as soft ones because they are not flexible enough and they can also irritate your gums and cause damage if you press too hard or brush too aggressively. You can also cause abrasion by using too much toothpaste! The toothpaste is the only component that is abrasive.
The toothpaste companies trick consumers into using too much so they can sell more by showing images with the entire head of the toothbrush covered. If you actually read the instructions however, they tell you to use a pea sized amount, any more than that is unnecessary. You also need to floss once a day. It does not matter if it is in the morning or at night. It just needs to be once every twenty four hours. You are not doing this just to get food out from between your teeth. This is being done to disturb the bacterial colonies that exist between your teeth. If you disturb them every twenty four hours they cannot harden and cause calculus build up. If you are not sure that you are brushing effectively, ask your dentist or hygienist for a demonstration! I will tell you a secret! I didn’t learn the proper way to brush my teeth until I was 20. I learned when I was in school for dental assisting. I was shocked to find out that I had been doing it wrong for my whole life. The crazy thing? I have not had a cavity since I learned the proper way to care for my teeth. Before that, every six months when I went to the dentist I had one or two cavities that needed to be filled!
