Caring for an Elderly Parent With Special Dental Needs
Tips For Preventing Tooth Enamel Erosion
Joe Lawrence
Maintaining a bright and attractive smile requires that you invest time and effort into keeping your teeth healthy. While many people understand the importance of daily brushing and flossing, few take the time to realize that some daily activities could be placing their teeth at risk. Enamel erosion occurs when the outer layer that protects your teeth begins to erode. This erosion can lead to serious dental problems like cavities, infection, and even gum disease.
Here are three simple things that you can do to help prevent enamel erosion in the future.
1. Reduce your consumption of soft drinks.
If you find yourself reaching for a soda many times throughout the day, your drinking habits could be putting you at risk of developing enamel erosion. The carbonation in soft drinks can wear away your enamel.
Enamel, although considered a hard substance, is actually porous. The molecules in the carbonated beverages you drink have the ability to settle into the pores of your enamel. Since carbonation is abrasive, these molecules from your soft drinks can begin to wear away the enamel on your teeth. By reducing your soft drink consumption, you can protect yourself from serious enamel erosion in the future.
2. Ask your doctor about the side effects of your medications.
While taking prescription medications can be beneficial when it comes to treating medical conditions, these medications could be wreaking havoc on your oral health. Some medications cause you to experience side effects that can contribute to enamel erosion. One of these side effects is dry mouth.
Saliva production plays a key role in protecting your enamel from eroding away. Saliva acts as a lubricant to keep food particles from settling on the surface of your teeth, and saliva also helps to move bad bacteria away from your enamel. Be sure to ask your doctor if dry mouth is a side effect associated with your medications, and request an alternative form of treatment if you want to protect your enamel from erosion caused by dry mouth in the future.
3. Find ways to reduce stress.
If you find yourself clenching your teeth or grinding your teeth in your sleep during periods of significant stress, these manifestations of your stress could be compromising the health of your enamel.
Enamel erosion can occur when your teeth come into constant contact with each other. Finding ways to reduce your stress in order to eliminate clenching or grinding can help you protect your enamel from eroding away in the future.
Finding simple ways to prevent enamel erosion will help you maintain the health of your teeth well into the future. Visit a site like http://www.accentdentalnwi.com/ for more information.
Share
Caring for an elderly parent tends to be tough enough without the added stress of dealing with dental implants or dentures. But, the prospect is not the end of the world—there are many things you can do to ensure that your parent's dental health is not compromised without having to spend a lot of personal time doing the care yourself. Between working with the right dentist, hiring a service provider for part time work, and giving your parent the tools he or she needs to care for his or her own dental health at home, you'll find that dental health for your loved one isn't so tough or time consuming after all. Hopefully you are able to get the support and information you need right here.