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
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.
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
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