When the apple bites back

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“An apple a day keeps the dentist away” - I love this proverb, but reading a fellow blogger’s, Stasha’s post about a funny loo accident/incident involving an apple (don’t ask me how I associated, I am quite strange, huh?) made me think of an important thing about brushing that I feel, I have to share with you.

I am pretty sure that a lot of us don’t know what effect eating some kind of food can have on our tooth enamel. Acid wear can make your teeth more sensitive to temperatures and it also makes your teeth more prone to decay. This is called acid erosion. Cola contains phosphoric acid, while juices have natural citric acid and ascorbic acid. Both of them can damage your tooth enamel.

Here you have a handy-list.

These are the factors that can cause acid erosion:

  • acidic beverages (soda pops and soft drinks, fruit juices and wine) as they contain large amounts of citric acid
  • grazing through the day
  • brushing your teeth directly after eating or drinking anything else than water
  • constant vomiting (bulimia) or reflux causes acidic contents to be in frequent contact with the teeth, developing erosion

This is how you should do to avoid acid erosion:

  • Rely on dental floss during the day (only brush in the morning and in the evening)
  • Rinse your mouth after food consumption during the day
  • Drink a lot of water
  • Avoid snacks and constant snacking during the day, letting your mouth getting back it’s acid balance
  • Avoid brushing your teeth for at least half an hour after consuming acidic food or drink (and brush gently when you brush)
  • You can reduce the contact of acidic drinks with your teeth by using a straw
  • Try to include milk or other dairy products in your diet

 

Did you know about this already? Do you have some more tips for avoiding tooth erosion? Please share them!

Parents, please help your kids!

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This following post was inspired by my daughter who came home yesterday and told me that she had two classmates at school, with rotten black teeth and the stink from their mouths was nearly unbearable for her. She does not even like to go close to them.

And we are talking about kids around 6-7 years of age!!!

This makes me so angry. Why won’t some kids’ parents care about their kids’ oral situation? Can’t they see that something nasty is going on in their mouth? I do check my kids’ teeth every single day and I make sure that they brush properly (I’ll help them)  and that they are not eating or drinking anything else than water after brushing their teeth before going to bed.

Many parents neglect the fact that their children have different dental care issues. This is one of the main reasons why these poor little kids/teenagers are not accepted in their school societies, and why they are going to suffer in the long run and they are not going to feel too good in life. It is only the parents who can help them dealing with the dental issues that they might have. This is one of the primary reasons why more and more people should be going to the dentist, asking for improved  smile design for their children. If they come to a level to even care so to say. But I think we are far behind this level.

Parents must be ready to do whatever it takes to improve their children’s oral health, otherwise their children are not going to feel comfortable and this is going to have a long term impact on their personalities.  It is pretty important to note that your children’s mental health is one of your top priorities as parents. If you have dealt with this problem already, it means that you have done your job, and your kid is not going to suffer because of his genetic or acquired problems, related to his or her dental health.

So PLEASE, if you are a parent, BRUSH and CHECK your kids’ TEETH regularly! This is absolutely the least we could do for them.

What do YOU think? Are you one of those neglecting parents too? Or are you like me, being mad at other parents?

Taking Care of Sensitive Teeth

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Lots of millions of people all around the World know that sensitive teeth can make life in general a nightmare as it causes pain and discomfort that can make eating or drinking a painful experience.
Normally, this condition presents tooth pain after drinking cold liquid, eating hot or cold foods, or breathing in cool air. If the pain becomes unbearable, you should immediately go and see your dentist, as the nerve of your tooth could be exposed. Normally, sensitive teeth starts when the gums begin to pull away from the teeth and eventually the roots of  the teeth. When the gums pull away, the roots will be exposed to cavity too.

The exposed root tips contain small tubules that lead directly to the nerves of the teeth. Whenever pressure, hot, or cold elements travel down the tubules, it will trigger the nerves and result in pain. People with healthy teeth have these tubules covered by their gums.

Some tips for making you feel better once you have sensitive teeth:

  • Reduce the pressure when brushing your teeth. Brushing them hard tears at the gums, which can lead to sensitive teeth. If you have sensitive teeth now, you should try using an electric toothbrush that massaging your gums firmly too or simply use a very soft-bristled toothbrush (I use Curaprox ultra soft 5460).
  • There are several toothpastes out there on the market that contain potassium nitrate, which helps you to reduce pain and discomfort associated with sensitivity. Although there are several toothpastes to choose from, according to my experiences Elmex’s Sensitive toothpaste is the best, as it simply affects the nerve of the tooth and stops the pain where it starts.
  • Mouthwash can also help tooth sensitivity, providing it contains fluoride. It is important that the mouthwash does not contain any alcohol, like Listerine does. Elmex’s Sensitive Mouthwash is a good choice here too.
  • Avoid professional (peroxide-based) teeth whitening treatments as they could cause or make your teeth even more sensitive.
  • If you have tooth decay, get it fixed by a dentist as soon as possible. Tooth decay is a bacterial infection of the tooth and one of the main diseases of the mouth where the enamel and the dentin are softened, allowing bacteria access to the dentin tubules and ultimately, the pulp. This process causes inflammation which makes the tooth very sensitive to any irritation.
  • Bad bite, recent fillings or dental work, partial tooth fracture, and advancing gum disease can cause sensitive teeth too, make sure that you consult your dentist immediately about this.

Tooth sensitivity is something that many of us unfortunately have to deal with - although there are ways that you can fight back or prevent the pain and discomfort.

The great importance of dental floss

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I am pretty sure about the fact that a lot of you out there have never ever used dental floss before. Maybe some of these people have heard of it, or even tried using it, but found it a difficult and a time consuming procedure.

All I can tell using dental floss is one of the best (if not the best) things you can do for your dental health. Cavity develops from bacteria left inside your mouth, and leaving food rests in between your teeth contributes to bacteria development that attacks your teeth. On the other hand some of us with tight gaps between our teeth can experience a very odd “spanning” feeling when something is stuck between the teeth. I am one of these persons and that is why I use dental floss every time I have eaten something that can get stuck in between my teeth (not yoghurt for instance).

The recommendation is to use floss at least once a day, advisably in the evening, before going to bed.

Having narrow gaps is making my floss shopping a pain in the “butt”, I have tried the whole selection of flosses that are out there on the market, and found that only a single one (luckily) I am able to use in between my teeth, the others won’t fit at all since they are being to wide. This brand is Oral-B.

It is really important to show your children how to floss too, and give them a specially designed floss.

Remember to always floss BEFORE brushing your teeth, this way you brush in between your teeth too (where the food rests were before flossing).

Note: This is not an ad for Oral-B, I just want to try to help the people who thought that they were not able to use dental floss when taking care of their teeth.

Smelly Rotten Tooth Monster

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Have you ever met someone for the very first time and were completely shocked by the look of their teeth or the smell coming out of their mouth? You are not alone. You just want to say to them, “Man, that is nasty, you should really take care of your teeth more”. Most people just think this, and not saying this right to the other’s face. You may be the one other people are thinking this about. Stained (or rotten!) teeth are a real turnoff, and won’t help you winning any points with the opposite sex or at job interview for instance.

I do meet people that disgust me a lot by opening their mouth. I am not sure that it is not me that is focusing on this too much and seeing mouth conditions that are blowing my mind, but surely there are too many people out there not caring about their teeth enough.

Sometimes I see people with a lot of stain and cavity on and in between the teeth and they don’t seem to be bothered about it, they smile at me, other people while they disgust and shock me and all I can think is: “God damn, this person has not been brushing her/his teeth lately or maybe not at all.”

WHY? Why are people so careless about their teeth?

There is one more thing I just can not stand and this is more common than I or you would think. It is the rotten tooth smell. Once one of your teeth gets attacked by cavity, you’ll notice a strange taste/smell in your mouth, even though the cavity is small and hard to locate. BUT still, you should react on that immediately and get your tooth fixed (the smaller the cavity, the easier and cheaper to fill the tooth), and you’ll chase the “Smelly Rotten Tooth Monster” away.

I have to admit that I meet this “Smelly Rotten Tooth Monster” a lot, a bit too much. Even some of my close family members have it. My gynecologist (!!! he is driving a Mercedes and is really well off) has it. Teachers have it. Young children have it. AND they DISGUST me BIG time. This monster seem to be present everywhere.

WHY? Again WHY? I am not rich but I at least get the fact that oral health is as important as your own body health. We should all take care of our mouths better!

Do you think that this post was provoking? I told you that I had opinions.

My evening procedure

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OK. Friends had already told me, my Hubby had already told me, my kids had already noticed my evening before-going-to-bed procedure. I told you in my previous post that I am obsessed about teeth. And so I developed this procedure of tooth brushing. I bet you already guessed that it takes time for me to go to bed. Haha.

This is what I do:

  • I go to the bathroom and start with washing my hands with soap and hot water.
  • After this I dry my hands and use floss in between my teeth.
  • Then I take my electrical toothbrush with extra soft brush attached, hold it under hot water, letting the brush become soft.
  • I put special toothpaste that contains vitamin A and fluoride but WITHOUT sodium laureth sulfath (I am not going to write down it’s name here).
  • I brush my teeth with the electrical toothbrush for 2-4 minutes.
  • After this I grab an extra soft Swiss made special extra soft toothbrush and put some more toothpaste on it.
  • I make sure to brush all over my teeth again with it and to brush even behind those hard-to-reach places like behind the wisdom teeth.

  • I rinse my mouth twice (at least).
  • Then I grab my tongue scraper and scrape thoroughly my tongue with it, as many time as it is needed to be clean.
  • I rinse again.
  • I make sure to clean all the devices properly before putting them back to their places.
  • I remove my makeup (mostly eye makeup) using quite a lot of cotton pads and sticks.
  • I wash my face with warm water.
  • Then I clean my face (leaving my eyes out of the procedure) with special cleanser fluid.
  • After this is done, I let it dry a bit then I apply anti-aging eye wrinkle cream around my eyes.
  • I continue applying anti-aging night-cream on my face and neck.
  • When this is all done I rinse my mouth with mouth water containing fluoride.

  • I take a shower.
  • I file my soles.
  • I put body lotion all over my body.
  • I go to bed.
  • I apply foot cream on my feet (I am so afraid of getting those cracked soles )
  • I put some lip balm on.
  • I rub my hands with hand cream.
  • NOW I am ready to sleep.

I do this every single day. Call me crazy, if you want to. I do call myself obsessed. Or do you think that this is normal? Never the less, do you as well have some odd “procedures”? I would be happy to hear them .

 

How the hell did I get so damn obsessed about teeth?

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Back in my young ages I did not care too much about oral health. AND the worst problem was that my parents gave it a shit too. I AM VERY MAD AT THEM because of this. They let me brush my own teeth when I was small, and never ever checked me. As a small kid you don’t understand the importance of a good brush. I just had a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, brushed my teeth (at most) twice a day, morning and evening and THAT was it. I did not even care about missing some of the brushing occasions or eating some candies or chocolate after brushing my teeth in the evenings. On the other hand I ave not even heard of floss or fluoride either.

As far as I can remember, my parents had very bad teeth, I recall my father with black and missing front teeth and both my parents with loose teeth at their late thirties already. This terrified me somehow, and that was the point when I got obsessed with my own oral hygiene.

At that time I had a bunch of holes (cavities) already in several of my teeth and by the age of 18 I had to have one of my teeth removed (pulled out). So I decided not to end up there where my parents were, so I tried to overcome my fear of THE DENTIST and started to visit a dentist. I got all of my teeth filled and fixed and since then I’ve been going there recently, even for check-ups without any reason.

Now I know that your oral situation does not only depend on the genes transfered from your parents (if they had bad teeth, you tend to have them too) but on the fact how you take care of them during your life.

I read a lot about oral care, simple and cosmetic dental procedures, filtering out everything valuable to apply on myself and my kids. I try making the oral situation better for my friends and family members as well by giving them advices, but they don’t seem to listen to me, everyone has this huge fear of dentist, and when they react it is most usually too late.

You can not imagine how much you can do for your teeth just by using floss once a day before going to bed!!! So if you are interested in my ramblings about oral hygiene, keep reading my blog, and I promise, I’ll try to give you some important information and relevant issues that are free of medical expresses and easy to read.

Cheers!

Wanna protect your baby’s future teeth?

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I have talked about your own teeth during pregnancy already, but now it is time to talk about your newborn baby’s teeth.

You baby is born and you have everything in your life upside-down but still you have to concern some major issues about the baby’s future teeth.

Even when your baby is only a couple of months old, you should keep her gums healthy and clean. Gently wipe her gums with a wet, clean, soft cloth every day. The most important thing to remember is never to put your baby to bed with a bottle. Any kind of drink except water can cause a baby’s teeth to decay, even breast milk and infant formula. Other liquids that cause tooth decay are powdered fruit drinks, soda and juice. Any drink that contains sugar can cause tooth decay when your baby gets older. A two-month-old baby should drink only breast milk, formula or water.

Typically primary teeth will begin emerging from the gums at about 6 months of age. However, not every child is the same, so will begin teething as early as 2 months or as late as 1 year. Most of the kid experience pain when teething, there are actually a lot of symptoms to teething you will want to be aware of, such as: fussy, excessive drooling, loud crying, change in sleep habits, constant gnawing, loss of appetite, diarrhea, chin rash, and even ear aches. You can help by rubbing a cool washcloth on the gums or giving him cooled chew toys to help ease the pain. Be sure to give extra love and care during this traumatic time of his life.

These are some tips for you to follow in order to protect your baby’s future or present teeth:

  • Always hold your baby or keep your eyes on him/her during feedings. Do not prop up the bottle or leave your baby alone with the bottle in the bed.
  • If your baby needs a pacifier at bedtime, make sure it is clean and dry. NEVER EVER put the pacifier or bottle nipples in you own mouth (not even for a quick clean), because this would transfer the bacteria from your mouth to your baby’s mouth.
  • Do not dip the pacifier in honey or sweet liquids. Your baby might like the sweet taste, but these liquids will cause tooth decay when her teeth come in. Germs and spores in honey can also make a baby sick, that is why honey is not recommended under the age of 1.
  • Clean the nipples of your baby’s pacifiers and bottles by washing with soap and rinsing carefully and thoroughly with clean water. You could use a sterilizer in your microwave oven too.

How to clean your baby’s teeth?

Under the age of 6 babies, toddlers are too young to clean their own teeth, but what you can do is to start making their teeth cleaning a lifelong daily habit. Your baby learns most from watching you, so show him/her a good example by brushing your own teeth after every meal. Then clean your baby’s teeth by using a soft, wet, clean cloth to remove germs after every meal he eats. Start using toothpaste as soon as your baby gets his first tooth.

Make teeth cleaning a pleasant experience. That way your baby will want to try it on her own. In this case let him do it AFTER you have cleaned/brushed his teeth.

Is your unborn baby “sucking” all the strenght out of your teeth?

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You can get to a point where you may think so. So did I during all of my pregnancies. My teeth kept breaking and I definitely felt that they were getting weaker and weaker not mentioning those inflammations that popped out time after time. You start wondering…

He are some facts about oral health during pregnancy:

  • Pregnancy is truly a delicate time for expectant women because of the drastic hormonal changes that affect practically every aspect of their bodies, including their oral health. During pregnancy, the risks of gum disease increases, which also puts the baby’s health at risk. This is why taking good care of teeth as well as gums is very important for pregnant women.
  • There is an old wives’ tale -which is not totally true-, that one loses a tooth with each pregnancy, and while women will certainly notice a difference in their oral health during and after their pregnancy, there are a number of steps they can take to minimize the risk and ensure their teeth stay as healthy as possible.
  • Oral hygiene during pregnancy is very important to maintain. Due to the change of hormonal balance the gums may become irritated by dental plaque. Brushing at least twice a day and flossing daily after meals will help prevent dental decay and gum inflammation. Pregnancy Gingivitis is not fatal, but it is often very painful and can cause bleeding bleeding gums. Buy and use an extra soft toothbrush and use dental floss to avoid this.
  • Attending dental check-ups regularly, even during pregnancy is highly recommended. You do not have to be afraid of pain-killer injections as they only take regional effect. BUT avoid any bigger dental treatments when you are on your first trimester that can harm your baby, such as dental X-rays.
  • Make sure to maintain a diet that is both healthy and balanced, it should contain a lot of cheese, yogurt and other dairy products, all of which are excellent sources of essential minerals that help develop strong teeth and gums. The baby’s first set of teeth form during the pregnancy’s first trimester (12 weeks).
Try to remember these basic facts and you’ll manage your teeth health during your pregnancy just as fine as I did. Cheers!