Don't Toss Toothbrush after Strep Throat

It is commonly recommended that you toss out your toothbrush if you have strep throat and are being treated with antibiotics. The idea was that you don't want to re-infect yourself with the strep after your antibiotics are finished. It turns out the strep is pretty fragile outside the body and dies quickly as the toothbrush dries.

This brings me to what I routinely recommend.  Have as many, or more, toothbrushes as the number of times you brush your teeth daily. Shake out the water after rinsing them and give them a full 24 hours to dry. Rotate through a sequence of your brushes. There are lots of bacteria in your mouth and they thrive in moisture. Allowing your toothbrush to dry will kill most of them.  Though there are not a lot of studies on this subject, it was nice to see this study presented at the Pediatric Academic Society's annual meeting regarding a very important pathological bacteria that dies quickly on a dry toothbrush.

Photo Credit: wikipedia commons

What is a Cavity?

A cavity is a hole in the tooth. It is the end result of a contagious disease caused by bacteria. If these bacteria are allowed to live on the teeth (inadequate brushing and flossing) and we feed these bacteria sugars (juice, sodas, sweet teas, sweet coffees, pastries, candies, etc.) the acids they "poop" from their metabolism will dissolve holes in the teeth.

A filling or crown cleans the hole and fills it to support the damaged tooth, but DOES NOTHING TO STOP THE DISEASE.

If home care and diet is not resisting and removing the bacteria, the disease continues and new holes develop. They destroy that expensive dental work, make holes in new areas, and eventually destroy the teeth.

Learn how to "see" those bacteria and teach yourself to be an effective tooth brusher (see "Finding Hidden  Bacteria in Your Mouth" in these note files).

Scott Thompson,DDS

530-878-2357

How to Prevent Cavities?...Not so difficult

1)    Establish a dental home for your child’s first tooth.  It is a lot easier to prevent cavities if you learn how before the cavities have started.
2)    A clean tooth will not decay!  Do you get your teeth clean?  Most people brush longer than necessary but are not effective cleaning their teeth.  Find a dentist whose primary objective is teaching you how to evaluate your own tooth cleaning and knowing your teeth are truly clean each day.
3)    Floss the teeth you want to keep.  9 out of 10 of the fillings I do are because of cavities between teeth where the tooth brush cannot clean.  100% of the gum disease adults struggle with and lose teeth from started between their teeth.
4)    Monitor your snacking frequency.  Simple carbohydrates (sugars and cooked starches) feed the bacteria that cause cavities.  The more frequently those bacteria are fed through the day, the more frequent your teeth suffer acid attack and the higher your risk grows for cavities.
5)    Drink water.  Sipping sweet beverages is the simplest way to feed those bacteria and provide multiple cavity causing attacks by the bacteria.  It also promotes overgrowth of the cavity causing bacteria so they become the predominant bacteria in your mouth.
6)    Drink more water.  All the sweetened beverages are highly acidic.  These acids will attack the surface of the teeth, softening the entire surface and making it easier for the cavity causing bacteria to do their damage.
Dr. Scott Thompson  - Winning With Smiles Pediatric Dentistry

Will My Child Suffer Cavities Like I Have?

The standard (and trite) answer is, of course, it depends on how you care for them.  This leads most people to think of how often they brush, what toothpaste they use, do they use a mouth rinse and perhaps whether they are an excessive candy eater.  Few people think more broadly of what they eat or feed their kids, especially beverages.  We speak extensively in our office about beverages, both for adults and especially for children.

Let me cite one piece of literature (among many showing this problem).  Dr. Philip Marsh was interested in what happens to the oral biofilm of bacteria developing for children sipping juice or other sweet beverages.  Children today are commonly weaned from breast milk or formula to "healthy" juices, typically diluted a bit.  This then evolves into juice or other sweet beverages for the toddler in a handy and available sippy/tippy cup.

Using known data on saliva flow and chemistry, food flow, and the various micro environments in and around teeth, he designed a research study to monitor tooth biofilm.  Dr. Marsh then introduced juice periodically to mimic a child sipping some juice from a sippy cup or bottle and introduced plaque bacteria (similar to how children get these bacteria in slobbery kisses and feedings with parents).  With sampling over time he measured the bacterial balance in the biofilm developing on tooth surfaces.

Tooth biofilm in a healthy mouth typically contains about 1-2 % of the cavity causing bacteria.  While mimicking a child's juice sipping pattern Dr Marsh measured the shift in cavity causing bacteria from 1-2 % to over 50%.  At that level, those bacteria control the biofilm, supporting the acid loving bacteria and destroying the "healthy" bacteria in the biofilm.  Most distressing is that once this biofilm balance has established on the child's developing teeth, about age 2 ½ to 3 years old, it is extremely difficult to change.  It will likely be a high cavity inducing biofilm the rest of the child's life.

Ouch! … $ $ $ $ too!

Please don’t introduce juice and other sweet beverages to your child until they are at least 4 years old.  Even then, limit it to meals.

Dr. Scott Thompson - Pediatric Dentistry