How Long should you brush your teeth?

How Long Should You Brush?


Brush until they are clean. Most people try to brush for 2 minutes twice a day. Time is not the answer.

People who have taught themselves to be effective tooth brushers can get the job done in one minute. If you are brushing the way you have always brushed since a child, some places get clean and some don’t.

More times per day and more minutes per brushing just gets the clean spots cleaner and the not clean spots are still not clean!

Teach yourself to be an effective brusher (see "disclosing bacteria) and get the job done in one minute per day!

 Be sure to ask us to evaluate your effectiveness when you are in the office. Call us at 1-530-878-2357 or visit our web page. www.winningwithsmiles.com


Scott Thompson, DDS

Flossing your Teeth is Critical...for kids and parents!

Cavities between the teeth are slow, insidious and begin showing up between age 3 and 5 years old. They account for 90% of cavities that I see; the majority of them happening between 5 and 9 years old. I cannot apply preventive sealants between teeth. Tooth brushing will not clean between the teeth.  Flossing will, however, and will help protect those areas. Since brushing will not help prevent these cavities, lets make flossing easy and bring it up high in the parent priority list, higher than brushing.


Floss anywhere. At evening story time on the couch, they can lay with head on your lap, looking up with mouth open wide. It is easy to see in that mouth and the head is supported, making the job quick, easy and comfortable for the younger kids. It is part of snuggle time.

When my kids were 6 years old they were OK though not yet great brushers. Since flossing was the real important issue, I chose to let them brush and bring me a piece of floss afterward. They handed me the floss, turned their back to me and tipped their head way back against my stomach. Mouth is wide open, easy to see, took 10 – 15 seconds of my time, and if their brushing job was really poor I saw it and sent them back. They soon improved their brushing to avoid being sent back. By about 10 they were doing their own flossing.

Set up their flossers. Many kids want to floss themselves and can’t get the floss wound on the flossing handle tightly enough. So the flossing goes undone or severely lacking. How about winding up 7 days worth for them to have in their bathroom? Ask us for more handles if you want them. They are inexpensive and we would love to give you what you need.

There are pre-strung single use flossers in the stores which I caution against. Floss-Picks and Wild-Flossers and such are attractive, but the little piece of floss is limp and the handle is flexible. Caution: Kids get very independent minded and insist on flossing themselves. Many haven’t developed adequate hand skills yet.  They go through the motions with the limp floss that does not get between the teeth and are rudely surprised later when cavities show up.  It is too late then, when we point out to the parents that the children have not been using the floss effectively.

Hypocalcified Teeth: White, Yellow and Brown Blemishes

Teeth occasionally experience a disturbance during development that results in the enamel developing atypically. It is usually observed as a discoloration; white, yellow or brown. I most commonly see it on the first permanent molars and central incisors (two front teeth) though it can happen to any of the teeth.

When this anomaly occurs on the front teeth, there may be some cosmetic concerns to address. In its mildest form it shows as white marks on the teeth, typically near the chewing edge, though it may be anywhere on the tooth. They are often hydration dependent meaning if the tooth dries out the white spots become prominent and when the tooth remains wet the spots diminish or disappear. These are a cosmetic concern only and since an adult’s facial posture keeps lips closed more than children, these blemishes typically remain wet and diminish. We do not recommend any treatment procedures until at least the mid teen years when a more adult facial posture has developed.

White blemishes that are larger and more opaque will likely need removal of the blemish and filling with a cosmetic filling material.

Blemishes of a more yellow or brown nature are often improved with bleaching techniques that can be done at any age. If the blemish does not respond to bleaching we can offer other cosmetic procedures to remove discolorations and refill the blemishes with cosmetic filling materials

If the aberration is severe enough it will result in soft enamel that chips and/or decays easily. It may also result in an atypical shape for the tooth. I usually observe this on the molar teeth. When this occurs, it is important to remove the very soft enamel and place a filling in the area. I do this in a conservative fashion by bonding on a filling material to replace the lost or decayed portion of the tooth. This usually needs “touching up” as the tooth grows and exposes more of the compromised enamel. The soft enamel may also chip around the bonded filling necessitating occasional repairs. Occasionally the aberration in the enamel is extensive enough that we recommend a stainless steel crown as a temporary crown during the growing years. A large percentage of these molar teeth will be best served with a full crown restoration after all permanent teeth have emerged, growth is finished and the occlusion has stabilized (age 18 or older). In the mean time we will maintain the integrity of the teeth with conservative repairs.

These teeth can also be very sensitive teeth for reasons we do not know. Restoring or covering the hypocalcified enamel will occasionally help this. Toothpastes for sensitive teeth (i.e. Sensodyne, Thermodent) can also be helpful. Avoiding highly acidic snack patterns (carbonated beverages, fruit juices, sour candies) will likely be very helpful as well.

Juice Revealed - Not So Sweet!

For over 2 generations now juice has been espoused as a health food. Though dentists have been aware for decades this is not really true, it has not been until very recently that the health industry and the medical establishment has taken a closer look at juice. It is definitely not a health food. The question arises if it is even healthy!

Juice now sits on the top of the list as a probable causative agent for the medical chronic disease pandemic facing our children; namely diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis, among others. The journals of the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have in recent years recommended that juice be avoided in an infant’s diet. They also recommend that if it is introduced to a toddler that it be limited to 6 oz. daily (a small glass) and consumed with a meal.

Juice is at the top of the list of causative agents for dental disease for our children and youth. For that matter, in today’s culture it probably is equally at cause for adult dental decay.

Juice is worse than soda! That doesn’t mean soda is good; it is also terrible for teeth and health. But, juice is worse. If you look at nutrition data for foods and compare juice with whole fruit, you quickly see what is lost when juice is squeezed from fruit. A couple highlights:

You do get water and calories; i.e., an 8 oz glass of orange juice has the calories squeezed from about 5 oranges. Who ever heard of eating 5 oranges in one sitting? And today we often do this at breakfast and again in the afternoon. Yikes… all those empty calories!

Lost with the fruit when we make juice is a) nearly all the vitamins except some of the water soluble vitamin C, b) insoluble fiber, roughage, c) soluble fiber, unique to fruit and an important aid in digestion, d) and minerals, key components to our enzyme systems that process our body functions. Without the minerals the enzymes cannot use the calories we consume so the calories get stored as fat.

Rarely mentioned about juice is the acid. Acid that will dissolve your teeth. Those of us that took analytical and organic chemistry in college know the issue here. Though organic acids are often called “weak” acids, they are far more effective in organic systems like mouths because of their sustaining power. They don’t register in the pH scale as strong (lower number) as inorganic acids because they hold their acid potential in “reserve.” As the acid is used (dissolving calcium out of teeth) the reserve releases more acid out of solution. This is part of the steady state (homeostasis) systems that sustain organic (life supporting) systems. When misused (juice rather than fruit) the power released can be devastating. It turns out the acid potential (titrateable acid) of juice is nearly twice that of colas!

So put juice at the very top of the destructive beverage list that includes: juice, sports drinks like Gatorade, sodas, juicers and sweet energy teas.

Is Candy the Culprit?

I got fed the line and so did you when you were a child. “Candy will cause cavities.” Well maybe it is still a good line. I do believe candy is a very grave health concern in our society, but those concerns lie more with the body health and the blood sugar balancing system (insulin) rather than the tooth health of each of us.

The threat to teeth is the frequency of exposure and one of your worst enemies is carbohydrate paste stuck between the teeth from meals and snacks (what I call cracker mouth). If it were just the carbohydrate there would be less worry. That paste, however, absorbs sugar from any source, including good fresh fruit and holds it between the teeth….for hours. The bacteria between the teeth are having a hay day with all that sugar just hanging around. And since we are a grain based eating society, this problem exists for everyone!

Now consider this.  If a person disrupts the bacteria from between the teeth once a day (every 24 hours) they never have a chance to accumulate to a level that will damage the teeth. I would much rather get the flossing done daily and focus on having healthy meals than struggling with the candy battle. As the kids get older I will have less and less control of their eating. A well-ingrained habit of flossing every day may do more in the long run to help them have healthy teeth.

Eating like a cave-man would protect my teeth, but I would rather floss.

Sour Power - How Sour Candy Affects Teeth

In the late 1980's the candy industry discovered how much young people enjoy the kick of a sour taste.  They began creating their standard candies in a sour version. Over the years it has transformed the candy industry. The financial success of "sour" candies was even reported in the Wall Street Journal.

To give you a hint at what happened, consider "Warheads." The challenge to the young folks was to pop the Warhead in their mouth and time how many seconds they could keep it there before they had to spit it out because it was too sour! If they made 18 seconds, they mastered it. Candy had become sport!

Now consider your chemistry lessons. Sour taste means acid; remember? Acid dissolves things, especially mineral things (like tooth enamel). The candy industry has added three acids (citric, ascorbic and malic) to create this sour sensation. Those acids are dissolving the enamel of the teeth. Kid's complain of their teeth hurting when they bite into foods.  Enamel is wearing away exposing sensitive areas of tooth, and of course cavities are more prevalent.

 

When your child considers a treat, discuss with him or her the effects and steer them to a healthier choice with less acid.  Education is a key to winning!