Holiday Survival Guide 2.0 - Living Informed
What a spectacular early fall we're having Crisp mornings warming up to sunny, warm afternoons. Lots to Smile about. Not to mention finally getting all that smoke under control. Great job firefighters! Hats off to you for your efforts. I've held strong that September is my favorite month in the Flathead and this September has only strengthened that position.
I'm in an interesting position trying to think up new "dental-related" content to share with the 406 Woman audience. Occasionally I have to read back over my last two-plus years of material to make sure I'm not being redundant. This being the 2015 October edition I natu rally referred back to my first ever October edition from 2013. What I found there was an article I called the Holiday Survival Guide, which was full of great tips and information to help you in your oral hygiene efforts be it the holidays or any other time of the year.
With that being said, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel this time, let's revisit, tweak, and update the Holiday Survival Guide. I hope you enjoy the second read as much as I did.
What more can I teach you about tooth decay? You're going to say, "sugar rots your teeth. I already know that." I'm going to get down to the simple science behind the creation of a tooth cavity so that my audience can make a more informed approach to the holidays with respect to their oral health.
I'll respond to your earlier comment and tell you, "sugar does not cause tooth decay any more than gasoline alone gets you to point B." In other words, sugar needs a motor to harness its high-energy chemical bonds. Our mouths are filled with billions of little motors in the form of bacteria. Some of these bacteria are cario- (acid-producing) and responsible for tooth decay. Mainly Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli. They consume the available sugar and create lactic acid as a by-product; this is the direct cause of tooth decay: ACID!
Right now, as you read, your teeth are under attack. Bacteria are colonizing and creatiing a biofilm (plaque) on your tooth surface. Cariogenic bacteria thrive in an environment devoid of oxygen. The thicker the layer of plaque, the less oxygen available at the tooth surface, the more potent the bacteria, the more acid being produced, the greater the rate of tooth decay.
Now that we have established that Acid is the direct cause of tooth decay, let's discuss the oral pH cycle. The pH scale is a logarithmic measure of acidity. To keep things brief, the lower the pH value, the more acidic pH of approximately 7.0, or neutral. After we eat food something is. Our mouths have a physiologic resting containing fermentable carbohydrates, the pH levels within plaque drops below 5.0 rapidly as bacteria con- vert the available sugar into acid. Demineralization (decay) of dental enamel occurs at a pH of 5.5 or less while remineralization (repair) occurs at pH levels above 5.5.
Saliva acts to neutralize the mouth and restore healthy pH levels, but this typically takes about 30 minutes. So every time you eat, drink, snack, etc. your teeth experience demineralization from the first bite until 30 minutes following the last bite. This should get the wheels in your head turning, you've been informed; think about your morning latte that you sip over the course of 2 hours. This equates to 2.5 hours of demineraliza- tion. Even worse, sustained periods of high acidity will eliminate healthy bacteria resulting in a higher concentration of cariogenic bacteria, lower pH levels, and more rampant decay.
Halloween is upon us. Our children gain access to a bag of candy that they will devour over the space of a few days. It is not only possible, but probable that they will have a sustained oral pH of 5.0 or less for days on end. Irreversible damage is inevitable. Thanksgiving is next, offering up bottomless supplies of pies, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauces, and cider that segue seamlessly into December's caramels, fudge, cookies, and eggnog (curse you eggnog you're so irresistible). It doesn't end until midnight on New Year's.
My purpose is not to be a party pooper, but rather to inform and let the reader react accordingly. The day after Halloween I'm going to exercise my right as a father to confiscate any and all Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and enjoy them.... my way. During Thanksgiving I fully intend on consuming my weight in Pumpkin Pie, and let's not get started on Eggnog. I take it personally every year as they remove it from the shelf, as if they are staging an eggnog intervention. "Don't judge me," I think, "I'm in complete control."
As I'm doing these things however, I'm going to be conscious of the micro-biotic processes being carried out along the surfaces of my teeth, and I'm going to take measures to combat them. So I want to leave you with a few tips so your teeth will survive the holidays and be just as healthy (if not healthier) than going in.
Brush your teeth 3 times per day.
This disrupts the bacterial plaque reducing the amount of harmful bacteria and exposing them to Oxygen. Don't forget your gums, a common location for plaque accumulation.
Floss between teeth once per day.
This disrupts plaque between teeth, the most common location of tooth decay.
Use a fluoride rinse right before bedtime.
Topical fluoride greatly aids in the repair of damaged enamel and makes it much more resistant to acidic demineralization.
Rinse your mouth with water after snacking.
This will greatly dilute the acid in your mouth and raise the pH rapidly.
If you want to go one step further, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 8 oz. of water for a potent neutralizing mouth rinse, which is also great for fresh breath.
Chew sugar free gum.
This stimulates salivary flow, which aids in acid neutralization.
Of course you I know to brush and floss, but I want you to think about what you are accomplishing now that you are an informed defender of your precious enamel. You are disturbing and removing the acidic plaque, allowing oxygen to incapacitate the cariogenic bacteria. I want you to think critically about the acid levels in your mouth. It should not come as a surprise that orange juice is just as destructive as soda to your teeth.
A biochemist whose career was focused on metabolism and obesity once told me 10 years ago, "If you ran hard for 3 miles every day, you could pretty much eat whatever you wanted and not gain weight." I've reflected on that a lot over the last decade. I don't run 3 miles a day, but I also don't get to eat whatever I want. Now you have a Dentist telling you, that if you brush and floss as you’re supposed to, and rinse regularly, and see your Dentist and Hygienist every 6 months, you can pretty much eat what you want and avoid tooth decay. Assuming everything else is functioning properly...
About 12 years ago I became mildly obsessed with the sport of Tennis. I had never played it seriously and never really gave it a second thought. The times I would pass over it as I switched through the channels I made small observations. The points would go up by fifteen initially, then ten. Not to mention the Loves and Deuces involved. Sometimes the player only needed 6 games to win the set, but other times 7 games were required. On top of all that, the Match could end after 3, 4, or 5 sets. These were the small observations that only resulted in my confusion toward the sport. I was not well informed and I did not like Tennis.
Then it happened, I watched long enough to learn the scoring system. Love meant zero. Deuce meant a tie only after both players reached 40, which was a weird way of just saying 3. A set goes to 7 games in a tie-breaker scenario, and a match is played in a "best-of-five" format. Etc.
DO you get where I'm going with this? Certain mundane activities in life, such as brushing and flossing your teeth...or tennis, take on a whole new meaning when you understand the details and processes involved. Dare I say they become less mundane. Live Informed and Smile More Montana!!
Read Holiday Survival Guide 2.0 and other Smile Montana articles by Dr. John F. Miller, DDS, in 406 Woman magazines.