Overview
You might have been told from your childhood that sugar is bad for your teeth. It causes cavities and destroys your teeth. It is sometimes difficult to resist the temptations of eating sweet candies, ice creams, cookies and other sugary foods and beverages.
Do they really damage your teeth?
Yes, the sugar in them does harm and causes tooth decay. But, sugar doesn't do the damage directly. The bacteria in your mouth is the real culprit that collaborates with sugar to cause damage to your teeth.
Anatomy of Teeth
The teeth are the hardest matter in your body. It is the enamel, the outer layer of teeth that make them hard. Enamel is made of calcium phosphate. The next hard layer is dentin which causes sensitivity to cold and hot substances when enamel is eroded and dentin is exposed.
Pulp is in the next inner layer which is so. The blood vessels and nerves run through it. Then you have cementum, a layer of connective tissue that binds your teeth firmly to the gums and jaw bones. Finally you have periodontal ligament that holds the teeth tight against the jaw.
Once the enamel gets eroded, the damage to the teeth begins irreversibly. Some loss of enamel gets auto repaired by collecting minerals from saliva and fluoride from toothpaste. But it is the chronic loss of enamel that is responsible for tooth decay.
How Cavities are Formed
Dental cavities or caries as the medical professionals call it is caused by bacteria that evades saliva protection. Even brushing sometimes doesn't provide enough extra precaution from bacteria to invade teeth.
Cavities formation on your teeth is a multistage process.
The bacteria first invades the enamel and then gradually the inner layers are not checked at early stages.
So, cavity formation is preventable by keeping a check on these bacteria. This can be done in two ways
By maintaining proper oral hygiene
Eating the right kinds of food and avoiding unfriendly food.
Sugar is certainly unfriendly food for teeth. Let us now see how sugar can promote cavities and tooth decay?
How Sugar Causes Cavities
The sugar directly doesn't cause any damage to your teeth. The naturally found bacteria in your mouth can combine with sugar to create an environment that can lead to tooth decay and Cavities.
This is how it happens…
When you eat sugary food and is not cleansed off from your mouth then the resident bacteria in your mouth feed on them. This process produces acids. This acid combined with bacteria, food debris and saliva forms plaque. The plaque is a sticky film that covers the teeth.
The acids in the plaque on teeth gradually erode the enamel. Tiny holes are Formed as a first step of cavity formation. You can arrest it at this stage by proper treatment. Once the acid and bacteria begin to attach the softer inner layers then your tooth decay begins and your teeth get destroyed slowly.
So avoid or at least reduce consumption of all food items that are sugary.
All sugars are not bad, but sugar with high sucrose contents is a really big enemy of your teeth.
To avoid cavities, you must visit your dentist at the early stages when your enamel is under attack but inner layers are not yet affected.
At the same time maintain good oral hygiene and stop eating sugar, then you will be able to save your teeth.