A nightmare on sugar street
Sugary foods are your mouths own worst nightmare; scarier than Freddy Krueger, and more dangerous than repeating Bloody Mary three times in front of your friends bathroom mirror at their birthday sleepover.
Tooth decay is caused by an acid in your mouth eroding away the tooths’ calcified tissue (its enamel), this process is called demineralisation. The acids responsible for all your fillings are actually the waste products of the bacteria that live within your dental plaque. These bacteria eat what you eat, meaning when you sink your teeth into your favourite chocolate bar, they’re enjoying it with you as well. The bacteria digests the sugar from what you’re eating, break it down and then discharge it as the acids that erode your teeth!
Within minutes of you eating a sugary snack, the bacteria start producing these acids, which will cause tooth decay. For your mouth to return back to it’s original PH level it was before you ‘just had to have’ one of your neighbours iced buns it takes around 20 minutes. So if you decided to have one every 20 minutes your mouth would be having a constant acid attack due to the steady intake of iced buns/sugar. This is why if you are going to have something sugary then you should eat it as quickly as possible (although lets be honest of course you’re not going to hang around!) as this will reduce the time your mouth is under an acid attack. The less time the acid is there, the less time there is for the demineralisation process to occur and the less likely you are to get cavities and tooth decay.
Obviously we know you can’t survive without the occasional snickers bar or Mr Kiplings bakewell tart, so there are some ways to help prevent cavities and tooth decay. The less sugar you consume or the less time you allow sugar to stay in your mouth means the less exposure your teeth have to bacterial acids. So try using sweeteners in your tea instead of sugar, and use alternative natural sweeteners like xylitol as a substitute for table sugar. Try chewing on some sugar free gum, as this increases the saliva in your mouth which is your mouths natural defence against these teeth threatening acids.
All in all, if you’d like to keep your nashers in tact-
eat a carrot.
