The ancient Greeks were the first people in recorded history to put it on record that sweets were bad for your teeth. They wondered – in writing – why figs, which are sweet, caused tooth decay.
Nowadays, we know how sugar interacts with our teeth to cause cavities and tooth decay. What happens is that when you eat something sugary, little bits of the sugar basically stick to your teeth, hiding in the cracks and crevices. While this in and of itself doesn’t matter too much, the real problem is that our mouths also harbor the strep bacteria in those same little cracks and crevices.
Strep bacteria like to hang out on the plaque buildup on our teeth. What’s more, the bacteria love to “eat” the sugar even more than bees love honey! Now that sounds like it could be a good thing, because if the bacteria eat the sugar, it gets it off our teeth, right? Yes and no: when the bacteria feed on the sugar, they excrete acids, and it ends up being the acids that cause the problem!
Even though the enamel of our teeth is the hardest mineral substance in our bodies, it is very susceptible to damage from acids. When acids are in contact with tooth enamel for very long, the acid begins to erode the enamel, eventually causing decay to begin. Before you know it, cavities are appearing everywhere.
This explains why trained dental professionals, like those at the Bedford Dental Group, tell us to brush and floss regularly and get regular checkups that include a professional cleaning. It’s not the amount of sugar you eat that matters. Rather, the important relationship is how long the sugar stays on your teeth – the longer it stays, the longer it is available to be consumed by the bacteria and the more acids are produced.
So the secret is to brush and floss after eating foods with sugars in them, and see a trained dentist regularly. Keeping the acids and plaque buildup down should help eliminate some of the cavities you get, even if you do like to eat sugars.
