All About Tooth Decay

Tooth Decay is damage to a tooth caused by dental plaque turning sugars into acid. If plaque is allowed to build up, it can cause problems such a dental caries which are holes in the teeth and gum disease.

Your mouth is full of bacteria that form a film over the teeth called dental plaque. When you consume food and drink high in carbohydrates, particularly sugary foods and drinks, the bacteria in plaque turn the carbohydrates into energy they need, producing acid at the same time. The acid can break down the surface of your tooth, causing holes known as cavities. Once cavities have formed in the enamel, the plaque and bacteria can reach the dentine, the softer bone-like material underneath the enamel. As the dentine is softer than the enamel, the process of tooth decay speeds up.

Tooth Decay May Not Cause Any Pain</h2 But if you have dental caries, you might have:

• Toothache – either continuous pain keeping you awake, or occasional sharp pain without an obvious cause; it can sometimes be painless
• Tooth sensitivity – you may feel tenderness or pain when eating or drinking something hot, cold or sweet Grey, brown or black spots appearing on your teeth

Tooth decay is very common in children due to sweets, fizzy drinks, fruit and just poor diet. We offer our kids ‘Colgate maximum cavity protection tooth paste’ which contains a sugar acid neutraliser which helps to deactivate sugar acids before they can harm teeth. Second, it contains fluoride and calcium to strengthen enamel to help prevent cavity formation.

MI paste is a special milk-derived protein that releases calcium and phosphate to the surface of the teeth. It relieves sensitivity, it helps prevent tooth decay and it relieves dry mouth. MI paste can be worn in custom made trays overnight.

Mi paste does not contain fluoride which is why it is safe for everyone such as children and pregnant people.