How Sugar Affects Your Teeth
Growing up, you likely heard variations of the phrase, “Eat too much candy you’ll get a cavity.”
Though it’s fair warning, the older we grew, the less we thought about it — or the underlying process that turns that delicious sugar into halitosis, cavities and rotting roots.
In this blog, we’ll take a deeper look at the chemical reaction sugar sets off inside your mouth that causes so many oral health problems, and what you can do to protect yourself.
What are teeth made of?
Before we jump into how sugar negatively affects your teeth, it’s important to know what your teeth are made of.
Your teeth are made up of four main tissues:
Enamel: the shiny, protective outer layer of your teeth (also the hardest substance in the body)
Dentin: the ‘bones’ of your teeth that sit just below the enamel, supporting the structure of the tooth
Pulp: inner-most part of the tooth where nerves and blood vessels are located
Cementum: the base of the tooth located beneath the gum line
That super hard enamel is the reason why your teeth can stand up to so much abuse – from chewing on nuts to biting open bags of chips. Without that enamel, our teeth become more sensitive, painful — and can lead to more severe oral health problems like cavities, infected roots that require root canals, or even tooth and bone loss.
The reason we’re talking about enamel? Because it’s the first line of defence for your teeth — and it’s what sugar attacks first.
What happens to my teeth when I eat sugar?
As we’ve mentioned in previous blogs, your mouth is full of both good and bad bacteria. Some bacteria help protect the mouth from disease, while others can cause oral health problems like bad breath. When you indulge in the sweet stuff (like soft drinks, juice, candy, cookies and even certain fruits) a group of harmful mouth bacteria eats up part of the sugars you’ve consumed and produces acids that demineralize your teeth.
This process of demineralization may not sound too serious, but because enamel is your tooth’s first line of defence, a break down means those other bad bacteria strains can cause major oral health problems like tooth decay, cavities and even gum disease.
Another issue that can happen from those harmful bacteria is that they can form dental plaque, a sticky film that covers the surface of teeth and actually contributes to raising the pH level of your mouth — another culprit that wears down tooth enamel.
The fight for remineralization
Though your saliva is constantly repairing this demineralization process, or fighting to remineralize your teeth via minerals like phosphate and calcium, and working in tandem with fluoride from water and toothpaste, it’s a losing battle if you too-frequently ingest sugary foods and drinks. When the pace of demineralization outruns remineralization, the dentin becomes exposed, causing toothaches and sensitivity to hot and cold food and drinks.
At this point, it’s crucial not to ignore the pain, but to book an appointment with your dentist immediately.
Likely, there’s a small cavity that will need a filling, which is a better option than leaving that tooth to decay until you need a more invasive procedure, like a root canal.
3 Tips for protecting your teeth from tooth decay caused by sugar
Though we all indulge in sugar once in a while, with these tips below, you can help to slow the demineralization of your tooth enamel and keep your whole mouth healthier!
Cut back on sugary foods/drinks: the first and most obvious tip! Eat fewer sugar-rich foods. When you do indulge, make sure to rinse your mouth out with water immediately afterward, and use a straw when ingesting sugary-drinks. As always, remember to brush and floss at least twice per day.
Be strategic about what you eat: Balance out your diet with mostly healthy foods and to boost the flow of saliva, eat more crunchy fruits and veggies.
Visit the dentist regularly: To keep your oral health in peak condition, visit the dentist for a routine cleaning and checkup every six months.