Roughneck SMILE
Have you looked in the mirror and notice that your teeth are wearing down or a tooth is chipped and you do not remember how it happened? It seems like yesterday; my smile was beautiful and now it is wearing down and teeth are chipping. Or have you been eating something soft and suddenly, a tooth breaks? You ask yourself, what is going on here, I have not been eating rocks or chewing on barbwire. Why is this happening to me, what can I do to prevent this from happening or how can I correct it?
First off there is a few possible conditions happening here. Let’s start to tackle them:
Attrition is a fancy way of saying that your teeth are wearing away. In this case a person does not have tooth decay or cavities, but as the teeth come together during normal chewing, the top and bottom teeth are wearing each other down. You will not notice this process happen quickly but over years you will notice that your teeth are just not as tall – or worse – your front teeth just start to crack and chip and you wonder, “What happened to my smile?”
Erosion is a chemical process of wearing down the teeth. Yes, it is a chemical process. Acid from various sources such as soda, lemons, sports drinks, grapefruit even acid reflux or GERD, to name
a few, can wear down the teeth. I just want to point out that this does not happen with the occasional drink, but rather a person sipping on an acidic drink every day all day. The acid will start to break down the outer layer of the teeth and continue dissolving the tooth over time. A experiment that you can do at home, take a baby tooth that has fallen out and put it into a glass of soda, Coke or Pepsi, and just see how long it takes to dissolve.
Abrasion is the mechanical process of wearing down your teeth. The most common one is abrasion by brushing too hard. Years ago, you may have been told to use a hard toothbrush and to scrub your teeth, we have found that this causes a substantial number of problems. Using a hard toothbrush, you are wearing down the sides of your teeth, even using a soft toothbrush you can still achieve this by applying too much pressure. Another example, I had a patient who was a roofer and he would hold roofing nails with his teeth. Over time, he notched out an area to hold the nails but it left his smile less than what he wanted.
Grinding and clenchin g : If you wake up in the morning and your jaw is sore and your teeth are feeling like they have taken a few rounds with Mike Tyson, you are probably grinding your teeth in your sleep. If your spouse is not too heavy of a sleeper, they may be able to tell you if they’ve observed any grinding. Now if you are finding that your jaw is tired by the end of the day but feels better during the morning, you have a habit of clenching or gnashing your teeth during the day. The best course of action is find when you are and stop yourself.
Best,
Ronald A. Murphy DMD
FUN FACTS FOR OCTOBER:
October Is:
- Adopt A Shelter Dog Month
- American Cheese Month
- Apple Month
- Arts & Humanities Month
- Breast Cancer Awareness
- Month Caramel Mont
Halloween is the biggest candy-selling holiday, followed by Christmas, Easter, and Valentine’s Day. 25% of adults DO NOT brush twice a day. This increases their risk of developing tooth decay by 33%. Roughly 75% of school children worldwide have active dental cavities.
