[Smart Farmers] It’s time to change the idea that “eating sugar causes tooth decay”! There are more than one “culprit” for tooth decay

Why are we taught from a young age that "children should not eat too much sugar"? Is eating sugar the only cause of tooth decay? How to prevent tooth decay? Today we will take a look at whether sugar and tooth decay are "closely related"?

Eating sugar = tooth decay? Sugar: "I don't take the blame"

Dental caries, also known as tooth decay or cavities, is actually a complex process of multiple factors interacting with each other. At present, most medical scholars believe that the "four-factor theory" can better explain the occurrence of dental caries. These four factors are: bacteria, oral environment, host and time.

The high-sugar diet we are concerned about is actually a leading factor that affects the development of the oral environment towards dental caries. Sugar, starch, carbonated drinks, milk tea, etc. are essentially carbohydrates. I wonder if careful friends have noticed that sugar itself will not cause demineralization of tooth hard tissues, but the acid products produced after bacteria digest sugar will decompose tooth hard tissues and cause tooth demineralization. Therefore, acid products are the culprit!

Carbonated drinks are simply a "double kill"! Carbonate itself is also a weak acid, and the high sugar in the drink will also produce a large amount of lactic acid after decomposition. These acids "combine together" and "penetrate every pore over time", even the hardest tooth enamel in the human body cannot withstand the power of water dripping through the stone.

Have we found the real culprit of tooth decay?

If acid products lead to tooth decay, then even if you don't eat sugar, the carbohydrates you consume on a daily basis will also become acid products. Since everyone has acid products, why doesn't everyone have tooth decay? This involves a process of quantitative change to qualitative change.

People who love to eat sugar or eat a lot of sugar are more likely to suffer from dental caries. Even if you eat the same amount of sugar, if you eat it in different ways, the results will be very different.

Assuming that other external conditions are the same, and they both eat 50 grams of sucrose every day, Mr. A dissolves all the sucrose in water every morning and drinks it all in one gulp, while Mr. B divides the sugar into 5 portions and evenly takes them in his mouth 5 times throughout the day, slowly tasting them. Over time, Mr. A and Mr. B will not only become fatter, but also have predictable changes in their teeth. Therefore, there is actually a wall between eating sugar and tooth decay - the effect time.

The longer the acidic products of sugar digested by pathogenic bacteria stay in contact with teeth, the greater the chance of developing caries. It can also be understood that the frequency of eating sugar has a greater impact than the total amount of sugar eaten to a certain extent.

Therefore, here is a reminder to all mothers, since it is unlikely that children will not eat sugar, reducing the frequency should be the first priority for prevention! It is better to finish a piece of candy at once than to lick it and hold it in your mouth from time to time. Even if you only eat half a piece of candy, don't be secretly happy, mistakenly thinking that you have won the battle of wits and courage with your child. You don't know that you are pushing your child step by step into the abyss of tooth decay.

All-round defense! Six ways to keep caries out

Since the occurrence of dental caries is multi-factorial, prevention of dental caries requires all-round defense. Starting from the four major factors of the disease, dental caries can be kept out:

1. Maintaining oral hygiene and inhibiting the growth of acid-producing bacteria are the top priorities in preventing tooth decay.

2. Brush your teeth after every meal as this is the most effective way to reduce and control bacterial growth.

3. Using fluoride toothpaste can reduce dental caries by about 25%. It is worth noting that: ① Children under 6 years old should use it under the supervision and guidance of their parents and doctors. ② It is not recommended to use fluoride toothpaste in areas where the fluoride content in drinking water is too high or where fluoride disease is prevalent.

4. To control plaque, in addition to effective brushing, you can also use dental floss, interproximal brushes and other tools to assist. Going to the hospital for regular teeth cleaning can not only remove dental plaque, but also do a systematic oral examination to nip early caries in the bud. You don't have to wait until you toss and turn in pain at night and can't sleep, and you can't get an appointment with the dentist to regret it. It is recommended that children in the replacement tooth period have an oral health check every 3-6 months, and adults who maintain relatively stable oral hygiene can have it once every 6-12 months.

5. Establish reasonable eating habits, control the frequency of intake of foods containing sucrose and carbonated drinks, and reducing the frequency of eating sugar is the most important, the frequency is more important than the total amount! Important things should be said three times!

6. Rationally use various fluoride anti-caries measures and perform pit and fissure sealing on deciduous teeth and permanent teeth at an early stage.

Finally, I wish you all good teeth, good appetite, good health, and enjoy every meal!

Produced by: Popular Science in China to Benefit Farmers

Producer: Guangming Online Science Department

Author: Mu Jingwen: Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Stomatology, Oriental Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine

Planning: Wu Yuetong, Song Yajuan