Protect your enamel

How can you protect your tooth enamel?

There are several simple steps you can take to protect your precious enamel from further wear, starting right now:

Reduce how much acid your teeth are exposed to:

Try to limit the number of times  you consume acidic food and drink, such as acidic fruit or sodas, to less than two per day.

Avoid sipping fruit juices, sports drinks and sodas over long periods, or holding acidic drinks in your mouth.

Aim for drinking the beverage within a 20 – 30 minute period of time.

Brush gently

Brush gently and thoroughly with a soft or extra soft bristled toothbrush.  Do not brush immediately after eating or drinking acidic food or drink.

Use an electric toothbrush with a built-in presser sensor. This prevents you from being “a hard brusher”.

Use a fluoride toothpaste

Most over-the-counter toothpaste contains fluoride.  A fluoride formulation is engineered to lock in minerals and maximize the re-hardening of acid softened enamel.

A prescription strength fluoride is also available.  Ask us if you are a candidate!

Enamel Protection toothpaste

Although “enamel protection” sound great, it does not need to meet specific standards to have this label on the packaging.

A typical enamel protection label on toothpaste means it is a very low abrasivity level.

Whitening toothpaste

Whitening toothpaste is traditionally highly abrasive.   The ingredients placed into a whitening toothpaste are made to remove staining on the teeth.  If you do not have staining on your teeth, whitening toothpaste will remove your enamel over long periods of use.  You many also notice some sensitivity with continued use of whitening toothpaste.

If you are concerned about your enamel wear, interested in cosmetic repair of worn teeth, or just wanted to join us on Jeffrey L. Angart, DDS blog, please leave a comment below.