The Seven ‘Deadly’ Dental Sins

Making changes to oral care habits could be the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy mouth.

Modern dentistry is now able to restore teeth that have decayed or been damaged, and can often do so in an aesthetically pleasing way. Even with modern tooth replacement systems like dental implants though, it is still preferable to keep your own teeth healthy rather than have to rely on restorations or replacements wherever you can. We may also sometimes underestimate the impact that poor gum health can have on us. Sore and painful gums and loose teeth that may fall out, are possible consequences if we ignore our oral health.

Using the experience of your Wickford dental team, we have put together a list of seven, what we have called ‘deadly sins’, which are some of the main contributors to poor oral health and damaged teeth. By making a few changes in these areas, you can really start to see some improvements in your oral health.

1 – Smoking

One of the worst things that you can do for your oral health is to smoke. Not only is this an expensive and antisocial habit but it is a major contributor to both gum disease and oral cancer. Gum disease can cause some very unpleasant symptoms such as halitosis while oral cancer is very serious, especially if not caught early enough, and can even prove to be fatal.

2 – Sugar Consumption

We all know that sugar is extremely harmful for our teeth and is a major cause of tooth decay, in addition to contributing to the obesity epidemic. Despite this, most of us continue to eat far more sugar than we should do. We might cut down or cut out altogether the sugar in our tea or coffee at home, but often continue to eat high quantities of sugar in convenience foods and snacks. Even store bought speciality coffee can contain extremely high amounts of sugar. With a little care, it is possible to reduce our sugar intake to a more sensible level.

3 – Missing appointments

Everyone should see the dentist and hygienist at six monthly intervals. This is essential for good gum health and also to enable us to restore any damaged or decayed teeth before the damage becomes too extensive to save the tooth. Forgetting or ignoring an appointment at the Cygnet Dental Practice is a sure way to allow problems to mount up, and what might have been resolved with a small filling, may become worse over time and a larger filling, crown or extraction may be the eventual outcome.

4 – Acidic food and drinks

In addition to the sugar contained in them, many drinks are also high in acidity. This especially applies to ‘sports’ or ‘energy’ drinks but also applies to most fizzy drinks and even fruit juices. Cutting down on these will help you to avoid enamel erosion that compromises the teeth and may also lead to sensitive teeth. If you must drink them, try to do so through a straw so that less of it comes into contact with your teeth. Better still, avoid these drinks as much as possible and remember that water is your friend.

5 – Teeth as tools

We have probably all done this at some point in our lives. When the manufacturers make packets that our fingers just can’t prise apart, we use our teeth to rip the packet so that we can eat whatever is in it. Unfortunately, even a seemingly harmless action like this can cause damage to our teeth. As the teeth slide off the packet, they can clash together quite forcefully, potentially causing a tooth to chip or crack. Although this might be quite minor, it can weaken the tooth structure and further problems can develop. Opening bottles etc with your teeth is even more foolish and can result in broken teeth and even facial lacerations. Always use the correct tools for jobs like these, and not your teeth.

6 – Poor cleaning

This one should be obvious really and we know the consequence of not cleaning our teeth regularly. Even though most of us probably think we brush our teeth well, there is always room for improvement. Make sure you use a toothbrush with healthy and not worn bristles, angle them towards the gums when brushing to remove trapped food and bacteria from the gum line. Spit but don’t rinse to allow the fluoride in the toothpaste to help strengthen your tooth enamel and make sure to add daily flossing to your oral health regimen if you don’t already do so.

7 – Ignoring the warning signs

If your teeth or gums are causing you any problems at all, whether it is soreness or perhaps a very mild toothache, please don’t stick your head in the sand and get the problem checked out as soon as you can. It may not be a major issue to you now, but any warning signs should be investigated as they will almost certainly become worse and that mild throbbing sensation might well develop into an extremely painful toothache that requires more extensive intervention than it would if it had been checked out earlier. We are here to help you so please do allow us to do that when you need it.

Even changing just some of the above habits will be beneficial to you. Improving on all of them will help you to have a much healthier mouth that should require less treatments to be carried out than if you continue to ‘sin’. If you require any help with an oral health issue or simply want to book an appointment at our Wickford based clinic, please call the Cygnet Dental Practice today on 01268 733078.