Consumption of Sweets & Sugar

Anything that is sugary like sweet, chocolate, cookies, pastries or cakes, ice creams, candy can seriously damage your teeth is eaten very often. You mouth has bacteria.

This bacteria converts the sugar into acid and this acid destroys the enamel of the teeth. Acids start eroding enamel after just 20 minutes of contact with the teeth. So if you have sweets brush or atleast gargle immediately to wash the sugar off the surface of the teeth to prevent acids to destroy the enamel.

Intake of Aerated & Sugary Drinks or Beverages

Aerated beverages like colas and sodas (eg. Pepsi, Coke, Fanta, 7up etc) are very refreshing in the heat and high temperatures of India but they are detrimental to dental health. What sodas can do to teeth is as bad as the damage caused by cocaine or meth to teeth.

This is because of the sugar, phosphoric acid and citric acid contents of these drinks. Sugar in drinks help bacteria to create acids which aided by the citric and phosphoric acid content of the drink destroys the enamel within hours.

Soda or aerated drinks also increase formation of plaque and hence accelerate the development of tartar or yellow stains on teeth.

Tearing Packets or Opening Bottles with Teeth

A lot of people often teeth to open a bottle of beer or a sachet or packet of wafers, or tear tape, or even use teeth to hold things when both their hands are busy. But this is the worst thing you can do to your teeth.

They are designed for chewing and cutting food and not anything else. Every time you open a beer or soda bottle, every packet of chips you tear or every piece of tape you cut is eroding a part of the enamel of your teeth.

If you keep doing this, you can rest assure that you will have tooth decay, chipping of teeth, cavities and eventually tooth loss.

Chewing Popcorn

Popcorns and Movies go hand in hand. In today’s time, everybody loves popcorn, but this can lead to serious damage to your teeth. Popcorns need a lot of pressure to be applied on the teeth.

The crunch of the popcorn is because of the pressure you need to crack them in your mouth. Frequent consumption of popcorn causes enamel damage and also micro fractures in your teeth. Cracks and microfractures will futher lead to sensitivity and pain and eventually caries, decay, tooth loss and other dental problems

Laxity in Brushing or Flossing of Teeth

Brush Twice a Day. Floss after every meal. If you don’t do these, your teeth are getting damages every day slowly but steadily. Most people in India do not brush at night before sleeping.

It’s the worst habit you can inculcate. Bacteria in your teeth will be the most active at night. All the food stuck in your teeth will help the bacteria create acids which over the night will keep eroding the enamel slowly but surely.

So brush every night before you sleep. Flossing is also a habit that is not followed in India. Less than 1 in every 1000 people in urban India know about flossing. Brushing cannot remove the food particles and fibers stuck in between teeth. Also, plaque in between teeth stays there and gets converted to tartar, if you do not use a floss.

Grinding or Bruxing of Teeth

Most people grind their teeth when they have stress or even normally. It’s a common habit but it causes damage of the enamel due to attrition. Attrition is the loss of enamel of the teeth due to wear and tear that can be caused due to continuous grinning.

If you are having a habit of grinding or bruxing of teeth, please visit a dentist and get a mouth guard. Not doing this will ensure that you lost the enamel layer soon causing tooth decay, damage to the nerve and tooth loss.

Swim in a pool with water containing chlorine

All swimming pools contain water which is chlorinated. This is to prevent bacterial growth and algae in the water. But did you know that this chlorine can also damage you enamel?

Chlorine used to prevent bacterial and algae contamination of pools can damage the enamel of your teeth. How? Chlorine with mixed with water caused the production of hydrochloric and hypochlorous acids.

Hydrochloric and Hypochlorous acids along with cyanuric acid, ensure that the water is safe to swim. But if the process is done incorrectly then there can be an increased concentration of hydrochloric and hypochlorous acids which would cause extensive erosion of enamel and accelerate demineralization.

So please check the swimming pool for correct chlorination processes.

Taking in Energy Drinks

Energy drinks like monster, redbull and the likes are very popular in todays time. In the last few years, consumption of these drinks have become very common and frequent.

But did you know that 100 ml of a sports drink can contain as much as 270 calories, or 15 teaspoons of sugar. This causes the extensive damage to the enamel by acid formation and enamel erosion. So avoid energy drinks.

The heathiest refreshment drink is water. Drink plenty of water and avoid aerated drinks or energy drinks.

Biting or Chewing ice

Ice Golas are a local favorite in India. Also, a lot of people bite on the ice that is there in your cold drink. But it’s the worst thing you can do to your teeth. Even though you can biting on solidified or frozen water, ice is extremely hard.

Biting on ice created micro fractures of cracks in your teeth leading of caries, decay and tooth loss. Next time you have ice in your hand, do not bite it. Biting or chewing on ice drastically destroys you enamel and reduces the life of your teeth. Bite on ice now and be ready for dentures in the near future.