Harmful Oral Bacteria Feed On Sugar From Food

Most of us need help in getting adequate amounts of these vital nutrients into our bodies via supplements or oral care products. As in any garden, you want to remove invasive weeds while keeping all the flowers healthy. Think of your toothpaste as a weed killer and fertilizer in one. You want it to get rid of the bad apples, while keeping the good ones healthy. Unfortunately, many toothpastes act only like weed killer rather than fertilizer. Prebiotics are powerful compounds that can feed and promote the healthy growth of beneficial microorganisms while starving the harmful ones. Three of my favorite prebiotics in oral care products are inulin, xylitol, and erythritol. Inulin is a naturally occurring dietary fiber found in many plants such as chicory roots. It is called sugar alcohol, although it contains neither sugar nor alcohol. Xylitol is found in some oral care products because of its great taste and its ability to boost oral health and help prevent tooth decay. Harmful oral bacteria feed on sugar from food, but they cannot metabolize xylitol. In the presence of xylitol, the bacteria ingest it and are unable to take up sugar and are effectively starved to death.

Down All the Days

Erythritol is another sugar alcohol that tastes great and also has a cooling effect on the tongue. It is a noncaloric sweetener that shares many of the functional properties of xylitol. Probiotics are live strains of bacteria that may be introduced in oral care products to add to the population of good microbes in your mouth. Although probiotics will perhaps have a promising role in the future, the current research has focused on specific strains in isolation, which may not represent their impact within a variety of oral microbiome mixes in different individuals. Additionally, unless the pH balance is managed, it is unlikely that probiotics will have a sustainable effect on the microbiome makeup. Therefore, I prefer to use products containing prebiotics that feed and stimulate growth among the preexisting good bacteria in every individual’s unique oral habitat. How do I choose which toothpaste is right for my kids? The great news is that these ingredients are not mutually exclusive. You don’t have to choose just fluoride or just hydroxyapatite. It’s not an either/or scenario. They can all benefit oral health, alone or in combination. On the other hand, an older person with a history of cavities and a daily soda habit might choose to add fluoride to the mix of hydroxyapatite and prebiotics to provide extra protection. If you’re using a strong mouthwash daily to mask your bad breath, it may be causing you more harm than good.

Take It Or Leave It

But, of course, as with everything else, not all mouthwashes are created equal. With the right mix of ingredients, mouthwash can be a wonderful addition to the overall oral care system. A good mouthwash can loosen food particles, reduce plaque, and provide the right ingredients to the parts of your mouth not easily accessed by a toothbrush. Many of the toothpaste ingredients I discussed earlier also apply to mouthwashes, so keep that in mind when you’re shopping for a good mouthwash for you or your children. Avoid antibacterial or antiseptic mouthwashes. Would you be willing to take an antibiotic twice a day, every day, for your body to prevent disease? Why would you do that for your mouth? Similarly, avoid acidic mouthwashes. You can and should determine the pH by using testing strips, which is quick and inexpensive, or use a more accurate pH meter. Now that we’ve come this far together, I’m going to let you in on one of my favorite little secret weapons in combatting oral diseases. In fact, it’s so little that you can literally fit it in your pocket, in your purse, or in your child’s backpack or lunchbox, and carry it everywhere. Using the right mouth spray is one of my favorite ways to balance the pH of saliva throughout the day and thus keep the mouth healthy and happy. You can think of a mouth spray as sort of a light mouthwash, with somewhat similar ingredients but formulated so you don’t have to spit it out and can use it at any time. How does that little change make such a big difference? Let’s do a quick review of the demineralization and remineralization cycles.

Burning Bridges

Every time you eat or drink, the pH of saliva drops and becomes acidic for about 30–60 minutes, and this is when the enamel is most vulnerable to damage. And because it’s really the only oral care product that you can take everywhere and use anywhere, you can help keep the mouth in peak health throughout the day. If your mouth spray can also provide prebiotics to promote the healthy microbes, even better still. A brush is a brush, right? Children’s toothbrushes are designed around their favorite superheroes, they play music, and some even use technologies like augmented reality to educate and make brushing fun. That’s why I recommend letting your child pick out a toothbrush that they love so they will enjoy and look forward to brushing. Damaged teeth are also more sensitive. Frayed and broken bristles are not as effective in cleaning your teeth. Softer bristles require changing more often since they lose their effectiveness sooner. Children brush 73 percent longer when brushing to music. This provides adequate time to brush all the teeth and for the toothpaste to do its magic. Brush all surfaces of every tooth. Toothbrush bristles are not really designed to reach and eliminate the bacteria on the tongue that can cause bad breath and interfere with taste. Avoid keeping them near other people’s brushes. Avoid keeping them near toilets. Change them after a sickness. How often do you or your children floss? Most people don’t like flossing, and why should they? Then, just when you’re ready to floss, it snaps in between your teeth and injures your gums, and you have a sink full of blood. You certainly don’t, but you do need a good floss and toothpaste.