Everything You Need to Know About Cavities

At Belmont Dental Group, we want to help you keep your smile beautiful. Cavities are a chronic disease, like Diabetes or Hypertension. You have no symptoms until they are far advanced.  So, how do we find them when they are small, and how do we prevent cavities from forming?

Bacteria eat before you do! With the first bite, the nutrients from your food get taken up by bacteria. Their end-product (their bathroom product) is lactic acid. It’s as powerful as hydrochloric acid! If you didn’t have saliva, it would burn layers of skin in your mouth. Once the acids have leached out some of the calcium and phosphorus in your super hard enamel, they form a little home for themselves. There, they hide and reproduce, making more and more acid and causing more and more damage.

Dentists detect cavities before they are a big problem. We look for brown and soft spots on the outside of the teeth. X-rays show us the places we cannot see. Together with the careful, clinical examination and the x-ray pictures, we can see the cavities before they are a big problem. We often find cavities so small that we can stop them without any dental procedures at all! How nice is that!?

Things you can do to help prevent cavities:

Avoid all day snacking, which constantly feeds these bacteria. Three square meals and a couple of healthy snacks will keep your teeth shiny—and they will help your waistline as well.

There are chewing gums and candies that contain Xylitol. This artificial sweetener is like a Trojan Horse. The bacteria welcome it in, but they can’t actually eat it.  Ha ha!

Sticky foods linger on your teeth, extending the process of making acids. Good to avoid them.

Most of all, it’s all about your oral hygiene. Brush properly two or three times a day, carefully floss twice a day, and use a fluoride-containing toothpaste. That’s the ticket to no cavities. Hygienists at Belmont Dental Group are patient about showing you best practices to keep your teeth pretty and clean. This does wonders for your breath and attractiveness!