Tooth Decay
Presented by:
Angel, Adriana & Maya
What is Tooth Decay?
Tooth Decay is when your tooth gets damaged by bad bacteria in your mouth, which is formulated from food residue. This bacteria will almost eat away the structure of your tooth. Tooth decay can start from a cavity also. When this cavity is not treated or filled, the hole can get bigger and bigger. When that hole in the tooth leads to tooth decay, it can lead to pain and loss of that tooth entirely.
What are the Symptoms or health risks of the Disorder?
There are many symptoms of tooth decay, as it is such a common health issue. With this also comes some health risks:
Some basic symptoms are:
-Tooth Sensitivity
-Mild or sharp pain while eating or drinking something hot, cold or sweet
-Visible holes or white staining on teeth
-Brown, black or white staining on the surface of any tooth
-Pain while you bite down against the tooth
Some Common Health Risks:
-Dry Mouth (due to lack of saliva to reduce the risk of tooth decay)
-Brittle Teeth
-Tooth Ache
Long term affects of tooth decay
If not treated properly or treated at all, tooth decay can lead to many unfortunate long term affects. These affect all fall under two main categories and ideas. One idea is losing the tooth entirely. When the hole in the decayed tooth is not treated it gets larger. Due to the decayed part of the tooth growing, the problem will escalate as well. Dentists will remove the tooth to get rid of the problem, causing the loss of the tooth. Another main idea is gum disease. If you do not succeed in caring for your oral hygiene, (flossing, brushing your teeth, ect) your gums will pay the price. All that extra food caught between your gums and the decayed tooth will lead to infected gums, and different types of gum diseases. As you now see, if not treated tooth decay will need a large and costly treatment to make up for not treating the tooth.
specific FOODS AND VITIAMANS THAT PREVENT TOOTH DECAY
Many of these foods will create saliva. At first this idea will sound gross, but when explained, it won't be as disgusting. When certain foods build up saliva, the saliva can pretty much flush the extra food residue, upon brushing and flossing. This extra help may prevent tooth decay. Sugarless chewing gum is a good saliva builder to name one example.
Calcium is a vitamin or mineral that will build up your bones as we all know. Your teeth are one of the only exposed bones in our body. We need calcium to grow and strengthen them. When we eat and drink calcium enriched products, our teeth grow farther and farther away from tooth damage, and decay. Some products that contain loads of calcium are, milk, plain yogurts, cheese and other dairy products.
Foods that increase the health risk
There are no specific vitamins or minerals that increase the health risk. However, if you are in taking these vitamins through supplements, the supplements themselves can cause tooth decay. Vitamins like chewable vitamin C can leave extra residue inside of the tooth. Some sticky multi vitamins can have a gummy like texture and leave residue as well. Exercise is obviously not needed for tooth decay. As mentioned before, anything sticky or if it can get caught in your teeth, it causes tooth decay. These sugary and sticky foods cause an increase in bacteria and are bad saliva creator. Having a dry mouth can cause tooth decay. With the lack of saliva, those extra food particles will not wash away, and as a result, they will decay. Not seeing your dentist for a check up and cleaning will cause cavities and tooth decay. With a professional cleaning every once and a while, your teeth will stay far away from tooth decay and other related issues.
Specific foods that contain the desired mineral to prevent the issue
As we mentioned before, calcium is a great way to strengthen the tooth and make it a lesser competitor for tooth decay. Calcium is a mineral in dairy products such as cheese and milk. When you intake these products, the calcium will help with the building of your teeth to help prevent and recover from tooth decay.
Below are some food labels of dairy products with calcium on the label itself.
Milk:
Cheese:
Yogurt:
Interesting facts about tooth decay
To conclude our presentation, here are some interesting facts about tooth decay.
-Giraffes only have a bottom teeth, this cuts their risk of tooth decay in half!
-Tooth decay is one of the most common of all diseases, second only to the common cold
-If it is not treated, in extreme and rare cases, tooth decay can cause death
-Tooth decay is an infectious process caused by acid producing bacteria
-Restricting sugar intake is important in preventing tooth decay: your total sugar intake should be less than 50 grams a day (about ten teaspoons) including sugars in other foods. A can of soda has up to six teaspoons of sugar- or more!
Thank you for listening!
We hope you are now aware of the health issue that is tooth decay!
