How to Remineralize Teeth
There are things that you can do to strengthen up your (or your kids) teeth.
We all know that sugar is bad for teeth because it dissolves the tooth enamel.
Many of us also know that the frequency and duration that the sugar is on the teeth matters more than the overall amount eaten, at least from a tooth enamel perspective.
Less known for many of us are the ways to build up and strengthen the tooth enamel.
This is also known as how to ‘remineralize’ teeth.
We all have sweet treats now and again, even regularly for many of us. As well as the bigger celebrations that involve sweets such as Halloween, Christmas, Easter, birthdays and so on, there’s also various parties at school, and “treats” with some kids sports teams. Many of us have at least one little treat daily.
We recognize that for most people, teeth are getting exposure to sugar pretty regularly.
A good question to ask is, what are the treatments that are available to remineralize teeth?
Xylitol
Xylitol, which can be found in some sugar free gum and lozenges, promotes remineralization of the teeth.
Research has shown that the use of gum containing xylitol reduces plaque and gum inflammation and helps the remineralization process.
As a bonus, this one definitely won’t be a hard sell to the under twelve aged crowd.
MI Paste
MI Paste is another great option. It comes in a tube like toothpaste and is available in a variety of flavors.
We carry it here at our office.
MI Paste helps to remineralize surface decalicification and white-spot lesions.
It can deliver calcium and phosphate directly to the tooth surface. Calcium and phosphate are known to strengthen tooth enamel. All good. Get MI Paste here>>
Flouride
And of course, fluoride. We’ve discussed fluoride at length in the past as well as seen it for ourselves how children that come from provinces or cities with fluoridated water have few to no cavities. These kids eat pretty much the same diets as kids from cities without fluoride, who often have multiple cavities and at a young age. Fluoride toothpaste is a must as far as we are concerned. In addition to fluoride toothpaste, there is fluoride treatment available at the dentist office. There are fluoride tablets as well and kids fluoride rinse which can be the easiest since it comes in fun colors, flavors that appeal to kids and often has beloved children’s’ characters on the label.
Let’s Switch the Mindset from “Guilt” to “Prevention”
These all sound like easy, inexpensive and well proven methods to strengthen and remineralize the teeth.
So, in a proactive way, it may be nice to shift the mindset from ‘sugar is bad, avoid sugar as much as possible and then feel concerned/guilty when we eat it’ to ‘yes, sugar is part of modern life, what can we do to counteract some of the damage’.
Pop in to Kits Family Dental for a flouride treatment, to pick up some MI Paste or to have a chat with us about any of your dental-related concerns.
