dental advice for christmas

PREVENTION INFORMATION

This is the tooth of a 15-year-old boy.
It's his first molar tooth, erupted at age 6.
He has drunk a lot of carbonated drinks, and the central yellow colour on the tooth picture is the dentine, the soft, sensitive part of the tooth.

The white enamel at the side is present as it hasn't had the chewing wear on eating. He has lost all the 2mm biting surface enamel in a tooth that should last another 70 yrs.
It's unlikely to remain beyond the age of 20.

Look at the video on fizzy drinks, and the cost of implants in the adult section.

If children drink any fizzy drinks, less damage occurs if they are drunk cold with ice, through a straw, and only at meal times. No "sports" drink make you perform better. They merely dissolve your teeth.

While you may want straight teeth for a good smile, the reason braces are currently provided on the NHS is straight teeth are easier to clean, meaning they are far less likely to decay.
You need to ensure that you keep them clean using the specific brushes elsewhere on the website.
The last thing you want are brown discolouration or worse decay around where these colourful brackets are.

The commonest form of front tooth loss in teenagers is trauma.
Rugby, Hockey, Judo etc.
When all your adult teeth are present, it's advisable to get a custom gum shield from your dentist. You can have a variety of designs and thicknesses dependent on your sport, and the colours of the team you play for, plus your name embedded.
Shock Doctor gum shields are good, especially when you still have baby teeth regularly falling out, and the adult teeth aren't fully present in the mouth.

All carbonated drinks dissolve teeth with time especially when they aren't fully mature. After twenty years of fluoride toothpaste, it seems the surface enamel is strong enough not to wear too quickly with the cider and white wine which you may have progressed on to.
The link on the picture shows what happens in a week to a tooth in cola. It's what is commonly called a video nasty.
Occasional soft drinks at meal times, chilled with ice and preferably through a straw are less destructive. Chewing sugar-free gum after eating helps.