Teaching your child the importance of oral hygiene is a priority.

Almost everyone will have to visit the dentist for more than a check up at some point in their lives. Although you may have your biannual check ups, brush twice a day, floss and even avoid overly sugary drinks; you can find you have a dental problem that needs professional attention. Some people can never visit the dentist, eat and drink what they like and hardly ever brush and they are fine, but it’s not advisable to do this as you will probably end up with many cavities!

If you feel as though you may be suffering from any dental ailments, you should contact your dentist and arrange an appointment as soon as possible so the situation does not get any worse. Some dentists, such as Manor Dentists, a practice located in Sale, are able to offer emergency appointments that can be made within 24 hours and in some cases even on the same day; so do not hesitate as you can get relief from your problems almost immediately! The NHS have advice on how to look after you teeth, so make sure you have a look and try to avoid these nasty maladies. In order to understand whether you may have a problem that needs checking out, I will list some common dental problems below.

Tooth Decay – this is the most prevalent tooth care problem, and can be present in both adults and children. Tooth decay occurs due to a build up of bacteria on your teeth, known as plaque, which starts to happen as soon as you finish brushing your teeth. Whenever you eat something sugary, this layer of bacteria uses some of it to produce energy for itself, but with a by-product of acid. As you can imagine, this acid then begins to corrode your enamel, and while this will not immediately cause pain it is only a matter of time before the corrosion reaches the dentine in your teeth. This dentine has nerves present in it, and so any more acid will cause you to experience pain. The mouth has a natural way of dealing with this, which is as simple as saliva! The saliva neutralises the acid produced by plaque, but only has enough time to work if you do not keep on eating sugary food and drinks.

Dental Erosion – although similar to tooth decay, the acids attacking the teeth here are from acidic food and drink rather than bacteria. Drinks that are high in citric acid, such as fruit drinks, can have an adverse affect on your teeth if you drink them too often. The main offenders of dental erosion, however, are fizzy drinks. These are high in both sugars and acids meaning they are doubly bad for your teeth, so you should extra care to ensure you are not drinking them too often! Around half of 15 to 18 year olds have dental erosion brought on by acidic drinks, and the prevention of this problem is as easy as cutting back on drinks and ensuring you brush thoroughly and regularly!

Gum Disease – over half of adults suffer from gum disease, and it can range from just a minor inflammation of the gums to requiring the tooth to be taken out. This problem is caused by the plaque from your teeth not being removed leading to your gums becoming swollen and red, and to bleed easily when you brush your teeth. At this stage it is known as gingivitis, and can be dealt with by cleaning the plaque from your mouth. If you leave it, however, the gums will raise more and come away from the teeth slightly, allowing the plaque to reach below the gum line, and turning into tartar. This is extremely hard to get to, and so can fester for a long while attacking the gums and bone around the teeth. Eventually, the gums will come away from the teeth so much that they will become loose and may fall out, or need to be removed by a dentist in order to get rid of the build up of plaque and tartar.