I grew up with fantastic dental care and I never had a cavity all through my growing up years. At 26 I went to the dentist and found out that I had 3 cavities, which was a shock to me because I thought 1 cavity would be the end of the world. After getting them filled a week later I thought," Man I'm glad that's over and those are taken care of." I naively thought that I could just move on and not have another cavity or problem. 6 months later I returned for a cleaning and I found out that I had 5 more cavities that needed to be filled. Where did these come from if I was just at the dentist 6 months earlier?
One month later I went back to the dentist because of a stinging pain in one of my molars. I had a crack that needed to be drilled and filled. I'm now writing this post with another molar that's in pain. I believe I have another crack in my tooth right next to the tooth that had the first crack. What is going on with my teeth? I don't want to accept that cavities and other more extensive procedures are just going to be a part of my recurring 6 month dental visits. Even if I had all the money in the world, it is terribly uncomfortable to sit in a chair for 2 hours while your mouth is being stabbed and drilled and filled.
I turned to the internet and searched for hours trying to find an answer about why my mouth seems to be falling apart. If I could figure out why I was getting cavities, I would have a better chance at getting rid of them. When you search basic terms like "how to stop/avoid cavities" you'll see nothing but ads and websites for big dollar companies that want you to buy their toothpaste and mouthwash.
I then started searching to find out if teeth could actually heal themselves like every other part of your body. (I always found it interesting that dentists just say that once enamel is gone it is gone and that gums recede) The search results got very encouraging, because they were saying that teeth, under the right conditions, are meant to remineralize and heal themselves. The problem was that certain diets yield an acidic mouth that your saliva can't overcome to heal your teeth. I found many claims that xylitol, a natural sugar, can control the acidity in your mouth enough to allow your body to remineralize your teeth.
I'm personally trying some of the things I've learned and I've altered much of what I do to care for my teeth. I don't usually believe these types of things until I experience it for myself. So far I've been using the proper dosage of xylitol and the recommded toothpaste and mouthwash from Dr. Ellie Phillips and I can safely say my teeth feel smoother and less sensitive. I'm not expecting the crack in my tooth to heal itself, but if this turns out to be a way for me to stop having cavities I will be thrilled. So far I haven't found any negative reviews or studies saying that this method doesn't work. I'm usually able to find an equal amount of outrageous claims, both negative and possitive, and in this scenario I'm overwhelmed with possitive results. I have some additional links below that I found interesting along with a pretty comprehensive video that goes over just about everything I've been researching. Because of the dental myths page I stopped using my Sensodyne toothpaste and my teeth actually feel better. The toothpaste could have been contributing to weak and more crack prone teeth. My real hope is to stop getting cavities and problems with my teeth. A small hope is that my hygenist will commend me on my brushing and flossing and I'll be able to tell her what I've really been doing. I wish I could say it was because I followed my dentist's advice. So far he's been agreeable and hasn't really told me what products are best, but he's a huge advocate for simply brushing and flossing. So far his advice hasn't made my mouth feel any better so I've had to start figuring things out on my own. I think I've learned a lot and I would love to hear any feedback from anyone else with similar problems and what you've done.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol
http://www.xylitol.org/
http://askdrellie.blogspot.com/
http://www.drellie.com/
http://www.cda.org/member_benefits_&_resources/patient_education_tools/factsheets/xylitol
http://www.drellie.com/Xylitol.php
http://www.drellie.com/Dental-Myths.php
The body does have the ability to heal itself. It's likely why people for millenia before probably kept their teeth without Listerine or fluoride rinses. They likely had more balanced, natural diets without chemically altered foods that could understandably contribute to the acidity of their mouths. Super interesting Steve!
ReplyDeleteYeah, if you start trying some of these things I'd be very interested to hear about what your experiences are.
ReplyDeletehow are your teeth doing now?!
ReplyDeleteHey Lane, I've been following this loosely for the past 4 months now and I continue to see and feel gradual progress. I haven't been back to the dentist for a checkup yet, but I assume my teeth are gradually getting better. When I stopped using Sensodyne I could feel that my teeth were almost immediately more sensitive but they've gotten less sensitive over time. I assume the entire process is going to take more like a year before I feel the total benefit, but I don't have the sharp pain in my previously cracked tooth anymore. Overall, the benefits have been well worth the additional time spent.
DeleteCould you tell us what your regimen was? I'm in a similar situation with a possible crack in my molar and pain while chewing.
ReplyDeleteThose who are reading this blog possibly would have been advised by their elders to brush their teeth twice in a day. But according to a sources, it has been revealed that one in four adults do not apply this task in their lives and in turn, three-quarters of these people have visible plaque on their teeth. Despite all such things, 20 Common Dental Myths Debunked out of which we will tell you the selected ones.
ReplyDelete