Addressing Risk Factors: Taking the Fight Against Tooth Decay to a New Level

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Dentist doing dental checkup — Wyoming, MI — Dental South

Tooth decay is more prevalent than diseases like cancer, heart disease or influenza. It doesn't have to be—brushing with fluoride toothpaste, flossing, less dietary sugar and regular dental cleanings can lower the risk of this harmful disease.

Hygiene, diet and dental care work because they interrupt the disease process at various points. Daily hygiene and regular dental cleanings remove dental plaque where oral bacteria flourish. Reducing sugar eliminates one of bacteria's feeding sources. With less bacteria, there's less oral acid to erode enamel.

But as good as these methods work, we can now take the fight against tooth decay a step further. We can formulate a prevention strategy tailored to an individual patient that addresses risk factors for decay unique to them.

Poor saliva flow. One of the more important functions of this bodily fluid is to neutralize mouth acid produced by bacteria and released from food during eating. Saliva helps restore the mouth's ideal pH balance needed for optimum oral health. But if you have poor saliva flow, often because of medications, your mouth could be more acidic and thus more prone to decay.

Biofilm imbalance. The inside of your mouth is coated with an ultrathin biofilm made up of proteins, biochemicals and microorganisms. Normally, both beneficial and harmful bacteria reside together with the “good” bacteria having the edge. If the mouth becomes more acidic long-term, however, even the beneficial bacteria adapt and become more like their harmful counterparts.

Genetic factors. Researchers estimate that 40 to 50 hereditary genes can impact cavity development. Some of these genes could impact tooth formation or saliva gland anatomy, while others drive behaviors like a higher craving for sugar. A family history of tooth decay, especially when regular hygiene habits or diet don't seem to be a factor, could be an indicator that genes are influencing a person's dental health.

To determine if these or other factors could be driving a patient's higher risk for tooth decay, many dentists are now gathering more information about medications, family history or lifestyle habits. Using that information, they can introduce other measures for each patient that will lower their risk for tooth decay even more.

If you would like more information on reducing your risk of tooth decay, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “What Everyone Should Know About Tooth Decay.”

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Want to Improve Your Athletic Performance? Try Tuning Up Your Dental Care

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After a long hiatus, school athletes are gearing up for another sports year. Given the pandemic, they may be modifying some of their usual habits and practices. But one thing probably won't change: These young athletes will be looking for every way possible to improve their sports performance. And a new research study offers one possible, and surprising, avenue—beefing up their oral hygiene practice. That's the conclusion of the study published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine , a sister publication of the British Journal of Sports Medicine . Working with a group of about 60 elite athletes, a research group in the U.K. found that improving oral health through better hygiene practices might also boost overall sports performance. Because there's some evidence that over 50% of athletes have some form of tooth decay or gum disease, the study's researchers wanted to know if there was a link between athletes' sports performance and their dental problems caused by neglected oral hygiene. And if so, they wanted to see if better hygiene might improve sports performance as well as oral health. Their first step was to establish an initial baseline for the participants with an oral health screening, finding that only around 1 in 10 of the study's participants regularly brushed with fluoride toothpaste or flossed. They then administered a detailed questionnaire developed by the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center (OSTRC) to gauge the athletes' perception of how their current oral health affected their sports performance. After some basic hygiene training, the athletes were given kits containing a toothbrush, prescription fluoride toothpaste and floss picks. They were then instructed to clean their teeth twice a day. Four months later, researchers found the number of participants who regularly brushed increased to 80%, and flossing more than doubled. What's more, a second OSTRC questionnaire found significant improvement overall in the athletes' perception of their sports performance. As scientific research, these findings still need further testing and validation. But the study does raise the possibility that proper dental care could benefit other areas of your life, including sports participation. Athlete or not, instituting some basic dental care can make a big difference in maintaining a healthy mouth: Brush twice and floss once every day to remove accumulated dental plaque, the main source of dental disease; Get a professional dental cleaning at least twice a year to remove stubborn plaque and tartar; See us if you notice tooth pain or swollen or bleeding gums to stay ahead of developing dental disease. Improving your dental care just might benefit other areas of your life, perhaps even athletic pursuits. We guarantee it will make a healthy difference for your teeth and gums. If you would like more information on how you can improve your dental health, please c ontact us or schedule a consultation. To learn more, read the Dear Doctor magazine article “ Daily Oral Hygiene .”