Cavity Prevention

Cavity Prevention

Tooth decay is the single most chronic childhood disease in the United States, and it also affects millions of American adults each year. Throughout your life, you are only blessed with one set of permanent teeth. If something happens to your permanent teeth, you will have to have significant dental treatment done to restore your smile. However, if you take the necessary steps in cavity prevention, you can ensure that your pearly whites last a lifetime.

Cavity prevention involves choices that you make day in and day out over the course of your life. Cavities do not occur overnight, but they are formed over time. This allows you to have ample opportunity to prevent cavities from forming.

Cavities are caused by damaging bacteria that live inside the mouth and produce acids each day. All types of acids eat through anything that gets in their way. This is exactly what the acid-producing bacteria inside the mouth do as well. Every mouth is host to millions of bacteria on a daily basis. If these bacteria are not removed by flossing and brushing each day, they remain inside the mouth and cause destruction.

Cavity prevention includes daily choices that protect your mouth from damage and decay. Brushing the teeth twice a day helps to loosen bacteria-laden plaque from the teeth so that it is easily expelled from the mouth when rinsing. Flossing the teeth removes plaque from the tight spaces between the teeth and at the gum line where toothbrush bristles cannot effectively reach. Practicing these two habits every single day will do more for your oral health than anything else.

Two other habits that you can incorporate for cavity prevention are a healthy diet that is low in sugar and visiting your dentist on a regular basis. The bacteria inside the mouth are most attracted to the sugars in the foods that you eat; therefore, they will produce more acids as they attack these sugars. Regular dental cleanings will allow your mouth to receive thorough cleanings and to treat any signs of decay in their earliest forms so that effective treatment can be started.

At Southern Charm Dental, we want to partner with you in cavity prevention. Call us today to schedule an appointment.