Acid erosion - save your teeth and your money !

Acid erosion of teeth is well known to all dentists but many people do not really know about it or why it happens. Acid erosion is not the same as tooth decay but can be very destructive in a different way. Acid erosion, can occur for a variety of reasons and may affect teeth to a lesser or greater extent. Eroded teeth loose their natural shape and are often sensitive to cold air or water or tooth brushing but these signs may also be due to tooth decay or a cracked tooth or filling as well.

This is mild erosion which needs no active treatment, just a change of eating habits or perhaps attending to a medical condition. The tooth is beginning to lose its natural enamel cover and has a more rounded shape.

More marked erosion, depending on which part of the tooth is affected, may need some simple treatment such as bonding tooth-coloured fillings to seal and protect the eroded surface and to re-instate the original shape.

Severe erosion may be disfiguring, if front teeth are affected. If back teeth are affected, eating may become painful and a change facial appearance can occur. A sort of premature ageing. Faciall height is reduced as if the teeth had worn down over many years and the chin gets closer to the nose !

Porcelain or resin veneers, crowns or onlays may be required to restore the teeth to their correct shape and to correct an altered bite.
Here are several before and after images of people I have had to treat with this problem.

This is severe acid erosion. It was caused by years of eating oranges, cut in quarter segments and then held under the upper lip against the teeth, chimpanzee -style !

This lady required a root filling and four porcelain veneers.

Here are the front teeth after I had completed the case

In this case, these lower back teeth have had their "tops" eroded away from drinking diet cola over many years, several times day.

These teeth and about 16 others for this patient required rebuilding with ceramic onlays. An extensive and expensive job!

Don't let this happen to you!!

I have many more images of cases I have treated like this but I thought you might prefer to look at something less "horrid".

Sunrise over Western Greece

aaahhhh!

Well , back to teeth now .......

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE

So what causes dental acid erosion?

Acid gets onto the teeth to erode them from two places. Your food and drink or your stomach !

Sharp acidic foods and drinks include......

Lemon juice including fresh lemons
Grapefruit juice including fresh grapefruit
Orange juice including fresh oranges
Vinegars
Sharp tomatoes

Cranberries
Also all fizzy drinks including sparkling water to some extent and all colas, diet or regular.
Drinking hot water with lemon juice is a particularly harmful habit which can destroy teeth !
So what can you do to help? If all these sound like healthy options, in some respects they are but beware of having too much and too often. Counteract the acidity with milk or cheese or at least a glass of plain water straight away to dilute the effect to some extent.
Use a fluoride mouthwash daily to enhance enamel strength against acid attack(and tooth decay too) or consider Tooth Mousse , a new product (though not if you have a milk allergy) designed to counter acid attack or a use high fluoride tooth paste ( for adults only). We can supply all of these at a lower cost than the high street Pharmacies.
What about those medical conditions?
One of the most common problems is gastric reflux ( heartburn) or a hiatus hernia. This will cause a burning sensation in chest and often the throat and sometimes a sour taste in the mouth. If you regularly suffer these problems you should consult your doctor.Any condition which causes nausea or vomiting to any regular extent. Again you should seek medical advise. Finally some eating disorders, notably Bulimia (nervosa) in which vomiting is induced will cause acid erosion often of a particular pattern which dentists recognise. Here again medical advice or counselling should be sought.

Please feel free to discuss any of these issues, if you think you may be affected, with myself, Chris or Nicky our dental hygienist.

Richard Charon

February News 2007

Team News
New Trainee Dental Nurse The latest addition to our dental team is Kelly who joined us just one week ago to train as a dental nurse. Kelly approached us because she had been interested in becoming a dental nurse for some time and we have a good record of training applicants from scratch and ensuring they gain their national qualification. This is a 2 year period of on-the-job training, home and college theory study and a theory and practical examination set nationally.

Although it is too early for any of us to be sure, Kelly has made an impressive start, so we are hoping that she becomes firmly established with us. As a "new girl", she has done a great job in assisting Nicky, our dental hygienist and helping to keep the wheels well oiled at the practice

Naturally dentistry is not for everyone and over the last two years we have had several young ladies join us who have not "stayed the course" for a variety of reasons. Perhaps we need to sharpen up our interview techniques!

Laura's Holidays My senior qualified dental nurse, Laura is on a well deserved holiday break from the 7th to the 17th of Feb. which means that Chris has to work full-time as my surgery assistant.

Stand-in Receptionist We would like to thank Eve, one of our loyal patients, for agreeing to step in at the last minute to help us out at reception, fielding incoming calls and callers, arranging appointments and yes, looking after fee payments too. This has been a great relief for Chris.

Practice News

Computer Upgrade My own surgery PC will be upgraded soon making it faster, more reliable and so x-ray imaging and the " tooth-cam" pictures I use, to let you see what it is I can see, will all happen more snappily!

Finishing touches Over the next few weeks we are planning to have the finishing touches to our practice upgrade completed including some minor painting and decorating, new widow blinds and so on. We hope you will not be inconvenienced.

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