However, the gang of bad bugs implicated with tooth decay still need to eat (sugars), so they keep a tunnel-like pathway open ‘to the surface’, a supply chain if you will, in order to draw their fo...

One key to stopping tooth decay

Finanziamenti e Prestiti postato da lilyeven12 || 5 anni fa

However, the gang of bad bugs implicated with tooth decay still need to eat (sugars), so they keep a tunnel-like pathway open ‘to the surface’, a supply chain if you will, in order to draw their food down to their work site. This will be an important piece to the puzzle later in this series when we discuss how to use this supply chain system to actually get the help of bad bugs in the damaged area to remineralize areas of decay. Keep in mind, all this decay is going on under the surface. This decay wouldn’t yet be called a ‘cavity’ by the public, as the surface of the enamel is still intact. However, under the surface, plenty of minerals have been lost from the structure, causing what dentistry calls the ‘white spot lesion’, which is the tell-tale sign to any dentist that active decay is occurring at that site. If the demineralization team continues to win the tug-o-war at that site, eventually the honeycomb structure will lose enough minerals that the whole structure in the area is dissolved and the actual cavity finally forms dental file. The good news is even if decay has progressed to the point of an actual cavity (hole) in the tooth, our efforts to remineralize the region can still work. It’s important to clarify that remineralization can occur to any tooth that’s been decayed. However, if a cavity (hole) is present, we don’t see proof that remineralization can refill the hole dental equipment. Yes, we can harden the existing structure and stop the decay, but to expect a hole in the tooth to refill isn’t supported by the literature (from our research). But this is really ok because what’s most important is that we stop the decay from progressing and strengthen the damaged region to become resistant to future decay. Takeaway gems: Just in case you jumped to the end of the article for the recap, here’s a rundown of the important points: Our teeth are made of a natural compound called hydroxyapatite, which is composed mostly of calcium and phosphorus. Hydroxyapatite is formed into long crystals. The pattern of the hydroxyapatite crystals and tiny holes creates a honeycomb-type structure dental scaling machine. Acids cause minerals to dissolve from our teeth. The main ‘bad bug’ implicated with tooth decay is strep mutans, which produces lactic acid. Strep mutans works its way under the surface of the tooth and establishes a ‘subsurface demineralized region’. Dentistry calls this a ‘white spot lesion’ because of the way these subsurface demineralized regions look to the naked eye. We can use the ‘strep mutans supply chain’ to our advantage to help remineralize subsurface decay. With this baseline of information in place, we can discuss a multi-approach strategy to stop cavities and reverse tooth decay. What about you? What did you learn from this article? As always, please share this article if you know someone who may benefit from this series.