Tooth decay and dental health

Tooth Decay is so common, too common, impacting 1 in 3 Australian Children before they start school, and over 90% of Australians at some point in their life. This year’s “World Oral Health Day” theme “a healthy mouth is a healthy mind” reminds us of the impact our oral health has on our mental health - we all want a smile we are proud to show the world and that makes us feel confident. While it’s so easy for oral health to end up in the “too hard basket”, dental disease is preventable, and implementing a few regular habits at home can make a world of difference when it comes to dental health.

When we think about dental health, we often think about keeping our teeth healthy. But a big part of maintaining a healthy smile for life also involves taking care of our gums. Cleverly, our gums are really good at telling us when we are not looking after them well enough - they bleed! I often hear from patients “I don’t floss because it makes my gums bleed” - which is a bit of a catch-22, because healthy gums don’t bleed! 

If your gums are bleeding while brushing or flossing, it’s an indication that bacteria is present that needs to be removed by - you guessed it! - brushing and flossing. So be gentle but persist with brushing and flossing when your gums are bleeding to return them to health, and make sure you are keeping up with your 6-monthly dental appointments too - which can be a really great reset for your gums if it’s been a while since your last visit.

Flossing nightly, before we brush, is a key step in keeping our gums healthy. Using string floss or flossettes is a crucial part of our “between teeth” cleaning routine and can be enhanced, but not replaced, by using a water flosser, like the Ordo Sonic Waterflosser. 

These can be especially helpful if you have larger gaps between your teeth that trap food, which can be more common post-orthodontics. And if you’re finding using a water flosser a bit of a mess or a mouthful, try using it in the shower!

When it comes to tooth decay, snacking is a big culprit for causing problems.

But it’s often not the foods we first think of that are the ones causing the most trouble. It’s no secret that sugar isn’t great for our teeth or our bodies, and therefore we generally try to be mindful of our consumption of sweets. But the biggest culprits when it comes to decay are often refined carbs (chips, pretzels, dry crackers) and dried fruit. 

Not only is dried fruit super high in sugar, but it’s sticky, which means the sugar lingers in our mouth for longer periods after our initial consumption, feeding bacteria throughout the day. While the type of sugar in dried fruit may differ from that in chocolate, our teeth, and the bacteria in our mouth, can’t discriminate - all types of sugar are treated identically. And I’m sure we all know the feeling of chips and dried snacks getting stuck in and around our teeth after eating them, which eventually breaks down to sugar too. 

So while they may not seem like “sweet treats”, they can end up fueling bacteria the same way a spoonful of sugar does, and become a bigger problem from how long they linger around our teeth, especially if grazed on throughout the day.

It isn’t about removing these foods from our diet - it’s about minimising our risk of decay developing by being conscious about when and how we eat them.

Frequency of consumption is key to reducing our risk of developing tooth decay. Try to limit them to a single sitting, instead of grazing throughout the day, and finish off with a fresh and crunchy “tooth-friendly” snack like carrots, which help dislodge foods stuck to our teeth while we chew, or cheese, that helps neutralise the acid produced by bacteria. 

And of course, remember to brush twice a day, ideally with an electric toothbrush, or soft bristle manual toothbrush, floss nightly, spit and don’t rinse after brushing, and visit the dentist twice a year.

Words: Dr Bethany, Dentist and Ordo Spokesperson