Five Things Your Dentist Wishes You Knew

1. Don’t Put Babies to Bed with a Bottle

Providing a bottle at night can be great for soothing anxious infants but we’d much rather you didn’t. Unfortunately parents frequently put young babies to bed with a bottle containing formula or milk, or even worse – fruit juice. All these substances contain sugars which will remain on your baby’s teeth right throughout the night, increasing the risk of cavities. This condition is called baby bottle tooth decay. If you do want to put your child to bed with a drink, please give them a bottle with plain water.

2. Half of Australian Children under the Age of Six Have Tooth Decay

This is a stunningly worrying statistic. It’s important to look after milk teeth, even though they aren’t permanent, as they can easily become decayed and will need to be extracted before they are ready to be shed naturally. This can cause major problems with the placement of adult teeth and it makes it much harder for a young child to eat properly and to learn to talk clearly. In addition, tooth decay can be unpleasant at any age, with painful injections being a common outcome.

3. Oral Cancer Is Rising in Australia – Particularly with Young People

Oral cancer is a nasty disease and one of the major problems is that it’s frequently diagnosed late in the day when it’s far more difficult to successfully treat. It’s more prevalent in smokers and has been linked to the human papilloma virus or HPV which is a viral infection spread by skin to skin contact. Unfortunately, HPV rates have increased massively over the past few decades in people aged under 45. This is why it is so important to have regular screenings for oral cancer at Apple Dental.

4. Don’t Brush Your Teeth for an Hour After Eating Something Acidic

If you like to brush your teeth immediately after eating, please don’t! During this time acid in your mouth softens your tooth enamel during a process called de-mineralisation, where some minerals are removed from the tooth enamel. Waiting for an hour allows re-mineralisation to take place. As the mouth becomes less acidic, some of the minerals removed from the tooth enamel are redeposited, hardening it again. Brushing too soon will brush away even more tooth enamel, increasing the effects of acid erosion.

5. Dental Disease is Preventable

You don’t need to get tooth decay or gum disease. Good preventative dental care will keep your smile strong and healthy. Regular check-ups and professional cleanings at Apple Dental combined with good dental care at home are all you really need. Once your teeth and gums are strong and disease free it’s really quite easy to keep them that way.