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Porcelain veneers. “Foods and drinks that damage our tooth enamel”
A balanced and healthy diet will help us maintain the health of our teeth and maintain a perfect smile.
HOW CAN WE AVOID DAMAGING THE ENAMEL ON OUR TEETH?
With the arrival of good weather, and the holidays, many times we relax so much that we neglect our diet and begin to consume food and drinks that without knowing it can seriously damage our teeth.
Therefore, it is very important to be very consistent and have a correct oral hygiene routine and a healthy diet to keep our mouth always healthy.
In this blog, from our dental clinic in Boca Raton, we are going to tell you which foods and drinks are better not to consume or reduce their intake to avoid damaging the enamel of our teeth and what is the best dental treatment for cases in which there are already irreversible damage.
WHAT IS DENTAL ENAMEL AND WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO CARE FOR IT?
Tooth enamel is a very hard surface layer, made up of hydroxyapatite (the hardest mineral in the human body that is also found to a lesser extent in bones), which covers the teeth and protects them from the oral environment.
It is very important to keep tooth enamel intact as it does not regenerate. It acts as a protective barrier of the tooth to avoid the formation of cavities, dental fractures and sensitivities.
Dr. Halina Montano, our SEO specialist in Dental Implants, Dental Aesthetics, Periodontology and Bruxism, warns us that, “although it is true that the main cause of tooth damage is due to poor hygiene, what we eat and drink it directly influences the health of our teeth, affecting and producing great damage to the dental enamel, which by not regenerating, once lost, causes problems with tooth sensitivity and even possible tooth fractures ”.
WHAT ARE THE HARMFUL FOODS FOR OUR DENTAL ENAMEL?
Some foods become great enemies of our teeth due to the consequences they cause on tooth enamel, be it dental erosion, stains and cavities.
SUGARS AND CARIES
The excess sugar that we consume both in drinks and in food together with poor oral hygiene will inevitably lead to the formation of cavities.
Tooth decay is an infection that begins to originate on the surface of the tooth and destroys tooth enamel.
It is essential to do proper hygiene after consuming sugars to eliminate bacterial plaque, which is what will lead to the formation of cavities and the subsequent destruction of tooth enamel.
Refined sugar is one of the main causes of tooth decay, a condition that causes holes in the tooth enamel.
How is tooth decay caused by sugar?
In the mouth there are bacteria that feed on sugars of all kinds and that we provide them through the diet. The acid of bacterial metabolism is formed from all sugars and dissolves the minerals on the surface of the tooth. The mixture of bacteria, food, acid and saliva results in a substance called plaque, which sticks to the teeth, especially the posterior molars. If this plaque is not removed after eating, it begins to accumulate and that is when problems appear.
Some of the sugariest foods that we usually consume are: chocolate, sweets, cookies, honey, fruit, sugary cereals, jams, among others.
The natural sugars found in fruits and some vegetables are less likely to cause cavities, so we recommend the consumption of unprocessed sugars that are found naturally in food.
ACIDS AND DENTAL EROSION
What is dental erosion?
Dental erosion is the loss of tooth substance, produced by external acids (soft drinks for example) and internal acids (gurgitation or vomiting) present in the mouth.
This wear of the tooth enamel causes sensitivity and exposes the tooth to possible fractures.
Citrus juices, such as lemon, orange and grapefruit contain high percentages of natural acids, so abusing them leads to a safe loss of tooth enamel.
Vinegar and candies also fall into this category.
Carbonated drinks, soft drinks, which contain carbohydrates, are very harmful to our dental enamel causing a strong erosion in it. Therefore, from our dental clinic in Boca Raton we recommend the consumption of natural water, as the best drink to preserve the health of our teeth.
PIGMENTS AND STAINS ON THE TEETH
There are foods or beverages that, when consumed frequently, penetrate the enamel through the pores and produce stains that usually appear below the tooth enamel, which cannot be removed with a mouth cleaning.
What are the foods that can stain our teeth?
These stains directly affect the color of our teeth, giving our smile an unpleasant appearance. Some of these foods are:
- Coffee, excessive consumption of this drink causes darkening of the teeth due to the concentration of chromogens it contains.
- Tea is one of the drinks that most stains the teeth since it contains tannin. Among the teas, the one that stains the teeth the most is black and red tea.
- Red wine is a great enemy of white teeth due to its composition: acidity, presence of tannins and chromogens. The union of these components darkens the teeth giving them a purple hue.
- Vegetables and fruits with strong colors, there are fruits and vegetables that contain pigments capable of attacking tooth enamel and producing irreversible stains, depending on the degree of consumption that is made of them. Among these we find cherries, blackberries, beets or blueberries.
It is very important to remember that once damaged tooth enamel does not regenerate, leaving the tooth structure exposed, weakening the tooth.
Therefore, when this happens, it is inevitable to cover the tooth with a material that resembles tooth enamel, especially because of its hardness.
DOES THE LOSS OR DESTRUCTION OF DENTAL ENAMEL HAVE A SOLUTION?
At our dental clinic in Boca Raton, we have the best dental aesthetic treatment to restore the health and aesthetics of their smile to patients:
VENEER ESTHETIC PLUS PORCELAIN VENEERS.
Dr. Halina Montano, specialist in Dental Aesthetics, is a benchmark in Boca Raton and United States in Premium Dental Aesthetics. Patients come to our clinic from all over the world.
WHAT ARE VENEER ESTHETIC PLUS PORCELAIN VENEERS?
Porcelain veneers are very thin layers of porcelain, the thickness of a contact lens, that are bonded to the front surface of the tooth. In this way, we will restore adequate protection to the tooth structure when our natural tooth enamel has been lost or damaged. The porcelains that we use, depending on each case, feldspar or lithium disilicate, meet the necessary characteristics in terms of the hardness of the material and the wide range of colors they have.
WHAT DOES THE TREATMENT WITH PORCELAIN VENEERS CONSIST OF?
Dr. Halina Montano has developed an exclusive treatment, VENEER ESTHETIC PLUS PORCELAIN VENEERS, which consists of a conservative, bioaesthetic and biomimetic treatment that goes unnoticed by third parties. Through an exhaustive aesthetic study of the smile, called Digital Design Smile, our specialists determine to design future porcelain veneers in 3D to show them to the patient, with a model that is made directly in the mouth. With this study the patient can see how the restorations are going to be, so that there are no surprises later when cementing the porcelain veneers.
After this step, Dr. Halina Montano proceeds to polish the front surface of the teeth, without wearing them down, which makes it a 100% conservative treatment, maintaining the greatest amount of the patient’s own dental structure. The last step of this process is the definitive cementation of the veneer esthetic plus porcelain veneers.
At our dental clinic in Boca Raton, we have the most advanced technology for the design, digital impressions and preparation of veneer esthetic plus porcelain veneers, allowing us to perform this treatment expressly in a single day.
ADVANTAGES OF VENEER ESTHETIC PLUS PORCELAIN VENEERS
Among the many advantages of this exclusive treatment at our dental clinic in Boca Raton, are the following:
- It is painless, since it does not need to wear down the tooth, it only involves a superficial polishing of the tooth structure.
- It is fast, since in a single session, we can rehabilitate a complete mouth with porcelain veneers.
- It is individualized, thanks to the esthetic dental facial study (DSD), porcelain veneers are designed and made according to the characteristics and needs of each patient.
- They do not come off, thanks to an advanced adhesion system that is used
- Lasting over time, with proper hygiene and periodic reviews, veneer esthetic plus porcelain veneers have an indefinite duration.
We hope we have helped you learn a little more about the care that we must take regarding our teeth to always have a healthy and perfect smile.
