Just days ago, the country was struck by Halloween. Kids came home with pounds and pounds of candy and parents were driven to the edge of insanity. Now that the collective sugar rush is beginning to abate, and everyone can start focusing a little, we can begin discussing the effect sugar has on your teeth. Spoiler alert. It’s not great!

The Roll of Tooth Enamel

Tooth enamel is like a shield protecting your teeth. In fact, tooth enamel is the hardest material in the entire body! That isn’t to say it’s indestructible. Harmful oral bacteria create acids that actively work to destroy your tooth enamel. And if that wasn’t bad enough, these bacteria feed on sugar, which then turbo charges them (much like your children) and gets them munching away even faster! In summary, tooth enamel = good, bacteria = bad, bacteria + sugar = very bad.

It’s a Warzone in There

Ya, in your mouth. A warzone. Scary, right? It is a war that you really want to end in your favor. The acids produced by bacteria are constantly gnawing away at the minerals which compose your tooth enamel. However, at the same time a natural remineralization process is taking place. Saliva plays an important role in this process as it carries essential minerals such as calcium and phosphates.

In this war against tooth decay, in which sugar is one of your primary enemies, fluoride which helps repair weakened enamel, can be one of your closest allies. So while you should definitely be cutting back on your sugar intake, you can also be helping yourself out by drink water with fluoride and brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste.

In our next blog, we are going to go into more details on the steps you can take to cut back on your sugar consumption to change your oral hygiene for the good!