The Simple and Surprising Natural Cavity Prevention
The latest research is suggesting that a very surprising technique can help to save your mouth from tooth decay. This is important since there is barely a place in the world that we can go, anymore, that isn’t offering us sweets as desserts, snacks, or even impulse items near the checkout line.
Understanding Natural Cavity Prevention
Every now and again, it doesn’t hurt to give in to temptation, as long as you don’t indulge too often (leaving you with a bulging waistline), provided that you take the right tactic to protect your teeth against decay.
A recent small study that was just published in the Journal of the American Dental Association is suggesting that after you consume sugary foods, if you drink milk, it could help to reduce your risk of developing a cavity.
Research Showing Milk After Sugar for Natural Cavity Prevention
In order to conduct the study, University of Illinois at Chicago researchers told 20 adults to neither floss nor brush their teeth for a period of 24 hours in order to allow dental plaque to build up within their mouths. The participants were required to eat Foot Loops cereal and, depending on their group, drink either tap water, apple juice, or whole milk.
Though the consumption of the cereal reduced the pH level of the plaque in the mouths of the participants to an unhealthy level, drinking milk after having consumed the sugary cereal appeared to help to return that pH level to a level that is closer to normal. On the other hand, the apple juice caused the pH level to plummet even further, and tap water caused a negligible increase in the pH level.
What Does This Mean to You?
What this means is that the order in which you consume foods can have an impact on your oral health. For example, if you treat yourself to a sugary dessert and don’t drink milk afterwards, you could be exposing your teeth to acids that are quite harmful for a longer period of time than those who do drink milk after sweets, according to Jeffrey Cole, DDS, an Academy of General Dentistry spokesperson who did not take part in performing this research.
Though many people believe that brushing their teeth immediately after eating a candy bar will safe their pearly whites, this is, unfortunately, not the case. In fact, scrubbing the enamel after exposure to higher acidity levels can actually lead to even greater harm. If you would prefer not to drink milk after every sugary treat, Cole recommended rinsing the mouth with water and waiting for about a half hour before brushing.
Other Oral Care Techniques
Other natural cavity prevention techniques include the same processes that have been recommended for many years. Brushing and flossing can go a long way to helping to keep your mouth clean and reduce the presence of damaging bacteria. Typically speaking, the specific toothpaste and toothbrush you choose don’t matter much in terms of how effective they are to your efforts.
Choose a soft or extra-soft bristled toothbrush not only to help as a natural cavity prevention technique, but also to help protect your gums. Firmer bristles might make you think you’re doing more, but the odds are that you’re doing more harm than good. If you’re brushing regularly, there’s nothing firmer bristles can do for your teeth that softer ones couldn’t do. That said, the firmer bristles could be speeding up your gum recession, which is something you’d really rather not encourage.
Similarly, the toothpaste you choose is up to you. It’s actually the brushing motion that does the vast majority of the work. The toothpaste just helps to improve the experience and gives your teeth more of a polished look. If you were to brush without toothpaste, you might not like it nearly as much, but you’d still be making a substantial difference to your oral care.
Flossing helps to clear out the food traps between your teeth. These exist more often in some parts of your mouth than others, but it does help to ensure that everything has been cleared away before it can start to rot and cause cavities in your mouth.
