How to treat and prevent tooth sensitivity

Do you suffer from sensitive teeth? Many people in the UK do. It’s an annoying problem, making your teeth feel uncomfortable or even painful when you eat hot or cold foods.

Don’t worry though, because in this post, we’ll look at the cause of tooth sensitivity, as well as what you can do to treat and prevent it.

What causes tooth sensitivity?

To understand what causes tooth sensitivity, we’ll first need to look at the anatomy of a tooth.

Teeth are made up of three different layers: the enamel, dentin and the pulp. The enamel is the outer layer, and it protects the tooth from bacteria and acidity. The dentin is the middle layer. It has small tubules that tell the nerves how hot or cold the tooth is. Finally, there’s the pulp, which contains the nerves.

Normally, our teeth can withstand quite a bit of heat and cold, thanks to the enamel. The enamel helps to dampen the sensations of hot and cold so that your nerves don’t go into overload when we drink tea or eat ice-cream.

However, when your teeth have problems, they can lose this dampening effect. This means that the nerves inside the teeth feel the full effects of heat and cold.

One way this happens is when your enamel wears down, either due to acidity or brushing your teeth too hard. When your enamel wears down, the dentin and pulp are closer to the surface of your teeth, making your teeth more sensitive.

This also happens with gum recession. Gum recession is when your gums shrink back from your teeth and expose the dentin and pulp.

How can I avoid tooth sensitivity?

As mentioned, tooth sensitivity is usually caused by gum recession and enamel erosion. To prevent these problems, it’s important to brush your teeth and gums twice a day. If you don’t do this, then you could get plaque and gum disease, which will erode your enamel and gums.

It’s also a good idea to cut back on acidic foods and drinks, such as orange juice.

Another tip is to make sure you’re using a soft toothbrush. This will reduce any damage you do to your teeth during brushing.

What should I do if I already have sensitive teeth?

If you already have sensitive teeth, then the first thing to do is to see a dentist. Your dentist will be able to tell you the cause of the sensitivity, whether it’s gum disease, enamel erosion, or something else. Your dentist may also prescribe you with treatment. This could be topical fluoride, for example, to strengthen your enamel. It might also be toothpaste that’s high in fluoride. In more extreme cases of sensitivity, your dentist might reduce the sensitivity of your teeth by blocking the tubules in the dentin with bonding agents and sealants.

There are also things that you can do at home to reduce your sensitivity:

1. Make sure that you’re not brushing your teeth too hard. If necessary, buy a soft toothbrush. Remember to brush gently with small circles.
2. Maintain a good oral hygiene routine, including flossing and brushing.
3. Cut down on acidic foods and drinks.

Conclusion

Tooth sensitivity is an annoying problem. However, it’s usually easy to find out the cause. It might be that you’re brushing your teeth too hard or that you have plaque or gum disease. The best way to find out the “root” of your problem is to see a dentist.

Six tips to cure bad breath

Did you know that bad breath is a regular problem for a quarter of adults in the UK? It’s true: 25% of British adults routinely suffer from unpleasant smelling breath.

If you’re a sufferer of bad breath, then the good news is that you don’t need to be. There’s plenty of ways to fight bad breath (or halitosis, as it’s also called). In this blog post, we’ll go over the ways you can prevent bad breath and keep your mouth smelling nice and clean.

1. Brush often

Brushing your teeth is a great way to prevent bad breath. Brushing not only kills the bad bacteria that produce smelly chemicals, but it also dislodges leftover bits of food stuck in your mouth. Furthermore, most brands of toothpaste contain ingredients such as mint which help to freshen your breath. So do try to brush your teeth twice a day – once in the morning and once before going to bed.

2. Floss once a day

Flossing is another important weapon in the fight against bad breath. It’s a great oral hygiene tool because it dislodges food stuck between your teeth. In other words, floss can reach places that your toothbrush can’t. So while your toothbrush should be the cornerstone in your battle against halitosis, make sure to use floss too.

3. Use mouthwash

Mouthwash is another effective way to combat bad breath. It often contains special antibacterial ingredients that help to keep the bad bacteria in your mouth under check. Furthermore, most brands of mouthwash contain ingredients such as chlorine dioxide, which helps to neutralise bad smells in your mouth.

4. Use a tongue scraper

We’ll admit that tongue scrapers are not all that common – do you know anyone who actually uses one? However, they can be a great tool to fight bad breath. This is because your tongue is a place where bacteria often accumulates. The bacteria then create smelly sulphur compounds that cause bad breath. So if you’re serious about eliminating your halitosis, then considering using a tongue scraper every night to keep your tongue nice and clean.

5. Use chewing gum

If none of the other methods has worked, then why not try chewing gum? It’s been shown that chewing gum can actually freshen your breath by encouraging your mouth to produce more saliva – this, in turn, helps to kill the bacteria that cause bad breath. And of course, most brands of chewing gum are flavoured, which can temporarily alleviate bad breath by masking bad smells. If you do use chewing gum though, make sure to choose a sugar-free version so you don’t encourage the formation of cavities!

6. See a medical professional

If all else fails, then it’s time to seek professional help. This can be a dentist or a doctor. Although it’s unlikely, your bad breath might be a symptom of an underlying issue, such as diabetes, gastritis or a liver problem. Don’t be too worried though, as most cases of bad breath aren’t caused by anything serious, and they clear up once your oral hygiene improves. So get out that toothbrush!

How to keep your child’s teeth healthy

There’s nothing worse than seeing a child in pain, which is why it’s important to keep your child’s teeth strong and healthy. That’s because if you don’t take care of your child’s teeth, cavities can form, which can become quite painful and even eventually cause tooth loss. To make sure your child has healthy, cavity-free teeth, follow the advice in this post.

Make sure your child brushes their teeth twice a day

Dentists recommend that adults brush their teeth twice a day – the same goes for babies and children too. In fact, you should start brushing a baby’s teeth as soon as the first tooth appears, which is usually between four and seven months.

For babies and children, it’s best to use a toothpaste that’s relatively low in fluoride – around 1,000ppm will do the trick. Adults are better off using a toothpate with around 1250ppm of fluoride, which is a bit stronger. Children need a weaker toothpast because they’re more likely to swallow the toothpaste than adults, and swallowed toothpast can cause a condition known as fluorosis if it’s ingested often enough. That’s why you should only use a tiny smear of toothpaste for babies and a pea-sized blob for children.

If you find that your child refuses to brush his teeth, then there’s a few things you can do to overcome the problem. First, let your child choose his own toothbrush – the ones with cartoon designs on them are often popular with children. Second, try using a flavoured child’s toothpaste as they can be more agreeable to a child’s palate. Third, make sure your child sees you brushing your own teeth, as there’s nothing a child likes more than copying Mum and Dad.

Take your child for regular dental checkups

It’s said that adults should see a dentist at least once a year. Children should see a dentist even more frequently – around every six months or so. This is because children tend to eat a lot of sugar in their diet and this can quickly lead to cavities. Dental checkups are important because a dentist can give a filling if the cavity has become too large, thus preventing further damage to your child’s teeth.

Many children are apprehensive about going to the dentist. If your child feels this way, then don’t worry; it’s entirely normal. You can help your child to overcome this fear by teaching her about what happens at dental checkups and by letting your child watch you yourself go through your own checkup, if possible.

Limit your child’s sugar intake

As mentioned, children tend to eat a lot of sugar. Sugar is found everywhere nowadays and it’s especially prevalent in kids’ diets – sweets, chocolate, biscuits, breakfast cereal, whole fruit, dried fruit and fruit juice are just some common sources of sugar. Try to limit your child’s sugar intake as much as possible because it wreaks havoc on children’s teeth. Sugar is the main cause of cavities in the UK, not only among children but with adults as well. Children should be eating no more than 25 g of sugar (that’s six teaspoons) per day.

All you need to know about cavities

Cavities are a problem that affect the enamel, which is the hard, outer layer of your teeth. Along with gum disease, it’s one of the most common dental problems, especially among older patients.

How do dental cavities occur?

Your teeth are covered with an invisible layer of plaque, which is made up of bacteria and tiny bits of food from the meals you’ve eaten. This plaque forms just twenty minutes after you’ve eaten.

If you don’t clean off the plaque by brushing and flossing, then the bacteria that make up the plaque will take the sugar and starch from the foods you’ve eaten and convert it into acid. This acid will attack your enamel by demineralising your teeth, and eventually, you’ll get cavities.

What are the main risk factors for cavities?

The main risk factors for cavities are:

• Poor oral hygiene. Brushing your teeth the wrong way, not brushing your teeth for long enough and forgetting to use floss can all lead to cavities.
• Crooked teeth. If your teeth are crooked or are too close together, this can be a risk factor for cavities because it makes it harder for you to clean between your teeth.
• Diet. A diet high in sugar, starch and acidic foods can easily lead to cavities.
• Acidic saliva. Some people naturally have slightly acidic saliva, and unfortunately this puts them at greater risk of cavities.
• Vomiting. Vomiting and gastrointestinal reflux can lead to cavities because the acid weakens your teeth.

What are the symptoms of cavities?

Initially, cavities are symptomless, but as they get larger your teeth will become more sensitive to certain foods, such as hot and cold foods as well as sweet ones.

Other early signs of cavities are stains, bad breath and a bad taste in the mouth.

Once the cavity has grown large enough to get through the enamel, you’ll probably feel pain as the cavity makes it way to the tooth’s pulp and nerve. You also might experience inflammation.

If you think you have a cavity, then it’s best to see a dentist as soon as possible. A dentist will be able to tell if you have a cavity or nor and will be able to administer treatment if necessary.

How can I prevent cavities?

Avoid cavities isn’t complicated. There are two main things you have to do: maintain a healthy diet and stick to a good oral hygiene routine. Here’s a few more tips on how to keep your teeth cavity-free:

1. Brush your teeth twice day. Brush your teeth for two minutes twice a day, change your toothbrush every three months and make sure to use a toothpaste that contains fluoride.
2. Floss. Make sure to floss every day before you go to sleep. It will help to dislodge food and bacteria from between your teeth.
3. Chew gum. Chewing gum can help to prevent cavities because it stimulates your mouth to produce saliva. If you do chew gum though, make sure it’s sugar-free!
4. Eat a healthy diet. Limit the amount of sugary and acidic foods that you eat, such as fruit juices.
5. Visit a dentist regularly. Visit a dentist twice a year for a checkup.

How to protect your teeth from chocolate this Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s day is only a couple of weeks away and we’re already salivating in anticipation of boxes of chocolates. Of course, though, chocolate isn’t the best thing for your teeth, which is why it’s good to practice moderation. In this post, we’ll discuss how chocolate affects your teeth and provide some tips on how you can minimise the damage.

How does chocolate affect my teeth?

Chocolate is generally bad for our teeth. This is because it contains sugar, and as we all know, sugar is bad for us. Certain bacteria in your mouth feed on sugar and turn it into acids, and these acids erode your teeth and make cavities.

However, the real situation with chocolate is more complex, because some types of chocolate contain less sugar than others. There are three broad types of chocolate: white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate. What’s the difference between them? Well, milk chocolate is basically cocoa butter, cocoa solids, milk and sugar. White chocolate is the same as milk chocolate except it doesn’t contain cocoa solids. Finally, dark chocolate doesn’t contain milk and it has more cocoa than milk and white chocolate.

Which type of chocolate is worst for my teeth?

White chocolate and milk chocolate are the worst type of chocolate for your teeth because they contain the most sugar. This is because only a small proportion of white and milk chocolate is actually cocoa – usually only 20%. The rest of the ingredients are milk and sugar. So it’s not hard to see why white chocolate and milk chocolate are bad for your teeth – when you eat them, you’re mainly eating sugar.

Dark chocolate is better for your teeth. This is because dark chocolate is at least 45% cocoa, which means there’s less sugar than white and milk chocolate. Also, dark chocolate isn’t just better for your teeth because of its lower sugar content. It also appears to have ingredients that can protect our teeth from decay. Specifically, dark chocolate is high in theobromine, a molecule that’s poisonous to dogs but a slight stimulant to humans. Theobromine is also thought to help to preserve tooth enamel. According to a study in 2013, theobromine combats the demineralization of tooth enamel and therefore helps prevents cavities.

Advice on how to enjoy chocolate safely

Finally, here’s some advice on how to enjoy chocolate without necessarily damaging your teeth.

• Pay attention to the chocolate’s sugar content. Avoid chocolate that’s high in sugar, such as white and milk chocolate. Consider switching to dark chocolate instead, and go for the darkest chocolate available. This is because the darker the chocolate is, the more cocoa it contains and therefore the less sugar there is to damage your teeth.
• Consider switching to chocolate with zero sugar. You might think that zero-sugar chocolate would taste too bitter to eat, but it actually contains artificial sweeteners to simulate the sweetness of sugar, so the taste is often quite similar to real chocolate.
• Maintain a good oral hygiene that consists of brushing twice a day and flossing at least once a day.
• See a dentist regularly. This will help to catch any tooth decay caused by eating chocolate and sugar.

If you think your teeth have been affected by too much chocolate or sugar, contact us at 0121 357 5000 to book a dental appointment.

Soft drinks and acid erosion

We all know that soft drinks aren’t good for your health. Some soft drinks are high in sugar, and even the sugar-free versions contain acid that can erode your enamel. In this post, we’ll examine this topic further by answering some of your questions about soft drinks.

Why are soft drinks bad for my teeth?

Soft drinks are bad for your teeth because they are high in sugar and/or acids. Sugar is harmful because it encourages bacteria and plaque, which in turns causes cavities. Acid is harmful as it erodes the enamel (the outer layer of your teeth).

Is diet cola better for my teeth than regular cola?

Diet drinks, such as Diet Coke and Coke Zero, are indeed better for your teeth than regular cola. A can of cola contains a whopping 33 g of sugar, while diet cola is sugar-free. So, yes, the sugar-free version is better for your teeth than regular cola.

So diet cola is okay for my teeth?

No. Although diet drinks are sugar-free, it doesn’t mean they’re good for your teeth. This is because all fizzy drinks contain acids that erode the enamel on your teeth. Even sugar-free drinks contain these acids. Therefore, it’s best to limit your consumption of all fizzy drinks.

Which other drinks are high in acid?

The following drinks are high in acid: carbonated drinks such as fizzy pop, white wine, cider, alcopops, some sports drinks, fruit teas, juices made from citrus fruits (e.g. orange juice and grapefruit juice).

In addition, some foods are acidic. These include citrus fruits, such as lemons, oranges, blackcurrants, and grapefruits. However, the benefit of these healthy citrus fruits for your overall health, outweighs the negative effect of tooth erosion.

So what’s the best thing to drink?

The safest drink for your teeth is still water, whether it’s from the tap or from a bottle. Still water is pH neutral which means it reduces acidity in your mouth.

Though of course it would be a boring life if water was all we drank. Alternatives to water are sugar-free squash, diluted fruit juice, tea (without sugar) and coffee (also without sugar). Although these drinks don’t benefit your teeth, they don’t do much harm either.

Try to avoid drinking large amounts of fruit juice. Even though fruit juice has a reputation as healthy drink, it’s actually quite bad for your teeth as it’s high in acids. A good idea therefore is to dilute your fruit juice with water.

How can I prevent tooth erosion from getting worse?

If you already have enamel erosion, then the bad news is that it isn’t reversible – you can’t get your enamel back. However, you can stop it from getting worse and your dentists may be able to protect your teeth with a protective filling or crown. Here are some tips on how to prevent erosion from progressing further:

• Limit your intake of acidic drinks and foods
• Don’t brush your teeth too soon after eating acidic foods. Acid weakens enamel, and if you brush them when your enamel is weakened, you could damage your teeth.
• Don’t drink acidic drinks before you go to bed. The acid will linger on your teeth during the night and weaken your enamel.
• Talk to your dentist or doctor for help or treatment.

Six tips to help you look after your teeth this Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner and people are once again getting gearing up for the festivities. But amidst all the mince pies, pudding and turkey, we ask that you spare a thought this Christmas… to your teeth.

We don’t want to put a downer on things, but your teeth are assaulted with sugar over Christmas, whether it’s sugar from pudding, sweets, chocolate or Bucks Fizz. All that sugar can cause cavities. So, give yourself a present by following our six tips for a tooth-friendly Christmas.

1. Practice moderation. Moderation is definitely the best thing you can do for your teeth at Christmas. So don’t be afraid to say no to the sweet tin as it comes around the table, or to decline the offer of a mince pie. Saying that, you don’t need to be a Scrooge – after all, Christmas is the one time of year when you should be able to eat and drink as you like. We’re just saying to keep in mind the amount of sugar you eat, and to try to keep it reasonable.
2. Don’t break your dental routine. Our routines tend to get a bit wobbly during Christmas due to all the stress, excitement and festivities. But Christmas is also the time when your dental hygiene routine is more important than ever. Make sure your dental hygiene routine is one you don’t break. That means brushing your teeth when you wake up and brushing again before you go to bed. The same goes for children. Christmas morning is very exciting for children, but they can spare a couple of minutes to brush their teeth.
3. Put out carrots for Father Christmas. It’s a Christmas Eve tradition in some homes to put out a mince pie and a glass of milk for Father Christmas. But why not substitute the mince pie for some carrots instead? You can tell your little ones that the carrots are for Father Christmas’s reindeer for their long journey. By incorporating carrots into a Christmas tradition, you’re subtly teaching children the importance of vegetables, which will help serve their teeth well for the rest of their lives.
4. Don’t open bottles with your teeth. You’ll probably open a bottle or two at Christmas, whether it’s wine, beer or champagne. But please don’t use your teeth to open bottles. This is because your tooth can chip or even break off entirely! Stay on Santa’s nice list and use a bottle opener instead.
5. Don’t forget the dentist. If you have a dental appointment near to Christmas, then don’t forget to go. We know that Christmas can be a busy time but that doesn’t mean you should skip dental appointments.
6. Consider switching to sugar-free foods. If you really want to score bonus points with Father Christmas this year, then consider buying sugar-free versions of popular Christmas foods. The big supermarkets usually sell lots of sugar-free options, including mince pies, chocolate and cake. These foods are usually intended for diabetics but they’re good for your teeth too.

From the team at Scott Arms Dental Practice, we wish you a merry Christmas! And one final tip: if you’re playing reindeer games with Rudolph this Christmas, then don’t forget to wear a mouth guard!