Nutrition for Healthy Teeth
Dental caries is the most continuous oral disease seen in dentistry. It continues to be a worldwide health concern, and affects a large amount of Americans. Millions of Americans each year suffer from pain and disability from cavities. Children with lower income families often do not receive treatment for tooth decay, which are mostly to suffer from these problems. The children with untreated cavities can go through pain, dysfunction, school absences, difficulty concentrating, and poor appearance. As stated on www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease, “tooth decay affects more than one-fourth of U.S. children aged 2-5 years and half of those aged 12-15 years”, dental decay is a common disease that affects a very big …show more content…
These types of food are called cariogenic foods and they are generally soft, sweet, and sticky such as cakes, candy, and dried fruitsthat easily stick to the tooth surfaces. As a result, individuals that are placed on high-sucrose diets exhibit increased Streptococcus mutans counts and develop early caries lesions. In general, carbohydrates that are retained in the oral cavity for long periods tend to be more cariogenic. Carbohydrates are starch foods that have lower carcinogenicity than sucrose. Frequently consuming starch produce large number of carious lesions. Starch produces caries as it is broken down to maltose by the enzyme in the saliva called amylase. Maltose can then be metabolized to acids, which leads to demineralization. Foods that compact in the pits and fissures of the teeth have a higher clearance time. Eating toffee, chocolate, caramel, or bread is sticky which increase the risk of an individual from developing dental caries. People who are slow drinkers of sugary drinks have higher risk of developing caries; as for early childhood like babies who can “develop baby bottle syndrome.” One common cause is the frequent, prolonged exposure of the baby’s teeth to drinks that contain sugar. …show more content…
I need help, I don’t know where to put it in above.) Three of my class mates and I initiated a Dental Screening Pilot Program to test all the individuals that might be in high risk for caries. We examined pH levels in people’s saliva, indications of caries, and had our patients fill out questioners to know more about their oral health. We also performed plaque indexes to inform our patients how much percent of plaque bacteria they had in their oral cavity. The saliva test had 6 different parts; we would have the individual expectorate in a small cup for a 60 seconds, while chewing on wax to stimulate saliva. We would take pH strips and place them in the saliva; after the strip changed color we would chart the viscosity of the saliva and the appearance (sticky/frothy, frothy/bubbly, thick, watery/clear) and chart the color of the pH strip that indicate if the individual’s saliva was