Even people who care for their teeth meticulously can end up suffering from dental damage at some point in their lives. Our O’Fallon cosmetic dentist office offers a variety of treatment options to restore your teeth, but today we are actually going to be talking about how you can do your best to prevent enamel damage in the first place.
Let’s start by reviewing the basics of a tooth’s structure. Your teeth have an outer coating called dental enamel, which is hard and fairly non porous. This makes dental enamel a great material for protecting the inner layers of your teeth, and allowing you to eat and speak naturally and without sensitivity.
There, however, many things that can damage your dental enamel:
· Dental trauma—this can include accidents like care accidents or falls, as well as damage sustained playing sports/participating in extreme physical activities
· Acid erosion—the acid that oral bacteria create as they multiply wears away dental enamel and can even create holes in this outer layer of your tooth
· Bruxism related damage—bruxism is a condition in which the patient grinds his or her teeth together. As you would imagine, this puts a lot of pressure on the person’s teeth, which will lead to crack and chips over time.
So to keep your teeth as healthy as possible, and hopefully avoid many of these problems, you should:
· Make sure to wear protective mouth gear whenever you are participating in a contact or extreme sport
· Clean your teeth thoroughly every day, and see your dentist at least every six months for additional professional care
· If you notice jaw stiffness, or tooth soreness, talk to your dentist about bruxism treatments. You may benefit from wearing a night guard as you sleep, for example.
As you can see, there are some very simple and concrete things that you can do to help preserve your smile. So call our O’Fallon cosmetic dentist office to get started!