How and Why To Keep Your Mouth and Teeth Clean
If you listened to your parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents — and maybe older siblings and babysitters — while you were growing up, you probably know by now that the keys to good oral health for a lifetime are brushing and flossing. They were right, but there’s a bit more to it. Here, in addition to seeing your dentist for dental cleaning near you, is how to keep your teeth, mouth and gums healthy at every stage of your life. Bacteria and your mouth Bacteria in our mouth recycle what we eat and drink by consuming the sugars in our food. Bacteria especially like sugary foods and starches — contained in pasta, bread, and cereals, for example — that are easily converted to sugar. Many bacteria are essential to our health, but it’s the byproduct of their activity that causes problems for our teeth. When bacteria consume sugars, they produce a biofilm as a waste product. We know that biofilm as dental plaque. Dental plaque produces acids that degrade tooth enamel which results in c...