Dental Health Care: Risks
Tooth decay is one of the most common problems requiring dental care. There are a number of risk factors that can contribute to the development of this condition and affect your dental health in general:
• Consuming certain products. There are foods and drinks you should avoid as they contain substances detrimental to your dental health. Many of them contain fermentable carbohydrates (bread and potato chips, raisins, table sugar, hard candy, breath mints, milk, honey, dry cereal, soda, cake, dried fruit and cookies) that are able to stay on your teeth for a long time.
• Not brushing properly. If you don’t brush your teeth or at least wash your mouth with some water, plaque starts destroying your teeth.
• Snacking. Snacks and soft drinks that you are likely to consume between meals contain sugar and acids, which have plenty of time to affect the health of your teeth as you probably don’t brush them after snacking.
• Eating disorders. Such serious disorders as anorexia and bulimia can significantly contribute to the formation of cavities. When people with these problems vomit, the acid can erode the enamel very quickly leading to severe dental pain.
• Bottled water. This kind of water doesn’t contain fluoride, so your teeth get less protection and become more susceptible to infection and cavities.
• Age. With time as your teeth wear down, they become more vulnerable, so they get affected very easily.
• Condition of gums. When you have gum problems and they pull away from your teeth, your roots can be affected by plaque.
• Dry mouth. This condition occurs because there is not enough saliva produced. Saliva is very important for dental care as it washes away plaque from the teeth and contains calcium for their remineralization.
In fact, periodontitis (gum disease) is in the second place by the number of occurrence. Everything starts with plaque formed on the surface of your teeth, when bacteria in your mouth interfere with sugars and starches you consume with food. Plaque is removed by brushing your teeth and applying dental floss, but it can restore just 24 hours after that. There are other risk factors that can contribute to the development of this disease:
• Smoking. Smoking is the most serious risk for developing periodontitis. But it’s not just the smoke if you enjoy chewing tobacco, it can also affect your teeth. Tobacco damages the immune system, and your body has less strength to fight the process of destruction.
• Hereditary predisposition. Even if you are super-healthy and take very good care of your teeth, periodontitis can occur. This can be due to the genes passed from one of your relatives.
• Taking medicine. There are many drugs, such as cold remedies, antihistamines, both over-the-counter and prescription ones, that can affect your teeth and the production of saliva. As saliva is irreplaceable in cleaning your teeth and neutralizing acids, using certain medications can be detrimental to dental health.
• Suffering from certain diseases. There are several conditions that can also affect the health of your teeth, diabetes being one of them. This disease makes you susceptible to many infections, and gum infection is among them. When in a dental clinic, make sure you mention any cases of similar teeth problems your relatives have experienced.
• Hormones. Such conditions as menopause, pregnancy and menstruation involve certain changes in hormone levels and can contribute to periodontal disease.
• Poor diet. If your eating habits are far from healthy, and you don’t consume enough vitamins (especially C and B) and calcium, periodontitis is likely to develop.
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