Oxygen, it's my favourite gas...

 When normal, healthy, mouth bacteria are starved of Oxygen they are forced into anaerobic mode. In anaerobic mode they make lactic acid, amongst other nasties. The acid causes tooth decay and gum inflamation. Not good. When Oxygen is available bacteria will always use it because aerobic respiration  is fifteen times as effective as anaerobic respiration. In aerobic mode no acid is produced, so no decay, no gum inflammation. Good.

So?

Plaque is fantastically effective at sealing out Oxygen.

Food in packets?

Food manufacturers know that the more sugar, fat and salt they add to their products the better they'll sell. It's their duty to their shareholder to shift as much stuff as possible, they aren't concerned about your or my health. Do yourself a favour, try to minimise, without making yourself miserable, the amount of food you consume that comes in a packet.

Can a broken tooth be a healthy tooth?

I had a chap in (oh, err, missus) this A.M. with a chip on the incisal edge of lower front tooth. He asked "Is my tooth knackered?". The answer turns out to be a resounding "NO!"

Our front teeth, in fact all our teeth, have a 'self-sharpening' mechanism built in. Evolution had equipped us with this mechanism because we haven't always had knives and forks easily to hand.

How does it work? The enamel on the outside of the tooth is somewhat harder than the dentine inside. When the dentine get exposed by natural wear the enamel starts to stand up relative to the dentine to create two sharp cutting edges. When the enamel is sticking up enough is chips off.

It's irritating but natural, and the only way to avoid the problem is to have all your meals by naso-gastric tube - yum.

"Buy my stuff if you want to live"

For some time now people with something to sell have been pushing the factoid that "gum disease leads to heart disease". There is a statistical correlation BUT that isn't the same thing as causation.

Unsurprisingly I'm all for people looking after their gums but i don't want people to be misled.

A little biochemistry - pay attention there will be a test...

Before todays lesson, a slight digression - let's get one thing straight, mouth bacteria are friendly bacteria, they prevent us getting infections with pathogenic organisms. Disinfectant mouthwashes should be avoided

And so to the main point of todays post, the biochemistry of dental misery...

Basically it's all about acid (stop sniggering at the back). More precisely it's all about the acid produced by bacteria during anaerobic respiration.

Mouth bacteria will use oxygen for respiration when it's available. That's aerobic respiration and produces mainly water and carbon dioxide, which is COMPLETELY HARMLESS.

When there is no oxygen they will change to anaerobic respiration which produces acidic end products, amongst other things.

An acid environment causes tooth structure to dissolve and gums to get inflamed.

THE TEST:

One question. You have sixty seconds, write on one side of the internet only, begin...

1. WHAT, when present, will prevent tooth decay and gum disease?

It's that time again!

This year make your New Years resolution 'Floss every day including Sundays and Bank holidays'.

Get one of my fantastic motivationals from The Park Row Dental Practice  .

If you're local, call in and get a nicely laminated one and a suction hook free. Hang it on your bathroom mirror so that it nags you every morning.

Sugar

When it comes to sugar I say "Reduce! Replace! Refuse!", but that's easier said than done. Here are some ideas that help:
REDUCE - Just a little at a time. Large changes cause mood swings and are less likely to 'stick'.
REPLACE - Buy the zero sugar or diet soft drinks. In time you'll come to prefer the taste.
REFUSE - Try to hang-on until meal times.