Are you ready to reduce or even eliminate the thing that plagues and creates unsettling fear about dental visits?

1. 5 Ways to Put an
End to the Battle
with Cavities

2. Are you ready to reduce or
even eliminate the thing
that plagues and
creates unsettling
fear about
dental visits?

3. Chewing Gum Is Not Just For Fresh
Breath, It Helps Prevent Cavities As Well.
In reality, it’s not the gum that prevents
cavities; it’s the act of chewing increases the
flow of saliva in your mouth.
If you chew gum (sugar-free gum) after
eating, the increased salivary flow can help
neutralize and wash away food acids.
Over time, acid can break down tooth
enamel, creating the conditions for decay.
Increased saliva flow also carries with it more
calcium and phosphate to help strengthen
tooth enamel.

4. Some Candy Is Ok

5. Good Candies
 Sugar-free lollipops and hard candies: These treats stimulate saliva,
which prevents dry mouth. A dry mouth allows plaque to build up
on teeth faster, leading to an increased risk of cavities.
 Sugar-free gum: As we’ve already discovered, chewing gum can
actually prevent cavities.
 Dark chocolate: Chocolates are loaded with sugar, but studies
have shown that the antioxidants in dark chocolate can be good
for the heart. And they may even lower blood pressure. Just be sure
to eat it in moderation.

6. Candies To Avoid
 Sugary snacks: Candy corn, cookies, and cakes all contain a high amount
of sugar, which can cause tooth decay.
 Chewy/sticky sweets: Any gummy candies, taffy, and even dried fruit can
be difficult for children and adults to resist, but they are a serious source of
tooth decay. They are more likely to get stuck in the crevices between
teeth, which makes it nearly impossible for saliva to wash away.
 Sour candies: These may be a kid’s favorite, but the high acid levels in
these treats can break down tooth enamel very quickly. The good news:
Saliva slowly helps to restore the natural balance of the acid in the mouth.
In other words, wait 30 minutes to brush your teeth after consuming acidic
foods or drinks. Otherwise you’re just brushing acid onto more tooth
surfaces, increasing the erosive action.

7. Stop Eating Snacks Between Meals
This is a good tip for your waistline as well as your oral health.
Every snack is followed by an “acid attack” on the teeth.
So, snacking all day causes the teeth to be bathed in acid
continuously.
Fewer snacks and eating desserts only with meals help to reduce the
number of these “acid attacks” on teeth.

8. Watch Your Diet
Diet is another contributing factor to cavity susceptibility.
It seems clear that caries-causing (cavity- causing) organisms prefer
sugars—specifically sucrose—as a primary energy source.
The metabolism of this sugar into lactic acid causes cavities.
It is the frequency of sugar exposure in one’s diet—not the quantity—
that predisposes one to cavities.
So, controlling the number of sugar exposures (consolidating sugar-
containing-sweet-eating episodes to mealtimes, for instance) aids in
keeping your teeth healthy.

9. Keep Your Mouth Clean
Excessive amounts of specific ‘cavity-causing’ bacteria can result in tooth
decay even if you have good dental hygiene and a low-sugar diet.
And this issue is more important now than ever because people are
investing in keeping their teeth healthy like never before.
And don’t think that once you have a filling placed or a crown that you
are out of the woods.
Dental studies are finding that while new cavities in teeth are on the
decline in America, there is an alarming increase in the amount of tooth
decay forming underneath old dental fillings and crowns.
This type of decay is harder to detect from x-rays and sometimes causes
no pain. So as the saying goes, don’t wait ‘til it hurts. The bacteria
gradually infect the nerve of the tooth and, over time, increases the
likelihood of a future root canal.
Keeping your mouth clean prevents bacterial tooth decay from eroding
your teeth’s healthy surface and is essential to protecting the health of
teeth long-term.

10. Contact Us
 Mark C. Marchbanks, D.D.S.
 2624 Matlock Road Suite 100, Arlington, TX 76015
 Phone: (817) 261-2747
 http://arlingtontexasdentist.net/