How’d I get a Cavity? (Part 3)

Ooohhh, Hi everyone! I'm back. What were we...oh yeah...bugs...I think we were looking at bugs last time and I was trying to convince you bugs, by themselves, lack the ability to cause a cavity. I'm not sure if any of you went there with me but it's true. So...now we're looking at sugar. As is the case with bugs, sugar lacks the ability to form a cavity by itself. There’s no inherent property in sugar that gives it the ability to eat holes in teeth. Have studies been done on this you might ask? Yeah - what do they suggest? Dogs raised without sugar in their diet enjoy being cavity free. Reports suggest they are also very sad. Sad because of the "no sugar" thing, but cavity free none the less. So...dogs raised without bugs, eating all kinds of sugar, and dogs eating anything but sugar go cavity free. Cavity free sounds good, but we're trying to discover how cavities are formed. O.K., so how do we get a cavity? I think we'll answer it next time. Until then...

How’d I get a Cavity? (Part 2)

OK, I'm back. Man, life gets busy. So...cavities? How do we get 'em? When you ask a patient what causes a cavity, they come up with answers like Bugs, Sugar, not brushing/flossing, etc. To each of these answers I slyly say “No”. Individually, each of these lack the ability to form cavities. Take bugs for example, we're talking about the one celled type. These little guys have no hands to hold picks or shovels. They have no mouth to eat a hole in the tooth. So how can they make a hole in a tooth? From a scientific view, studies have been done on dogs raised in "sterile" environments (no bugs) and fed all the sugar and anything else they want. You know what happens? NO CAVITIES. What you do get is happy dogs - happy because they are hoppped up on sugar and...have no cavities. SSSOOOO, how do we get cavities? Maybe it's sugar. If it's not bugs, let’s look at sugar then. And that I'll do next time. For now, I've gotta go. It's been a busy day. Looking forward to going home and seeing the wife & kids and watering the garden.

Take Care! Talk to you soon.

How’d I get a Cavity? (Part 1)

One of my favorite "in-office" conversations answers this very question. We discuss it with every patient that seems cavity prone. We do this because people change their behavior at home when they know how cavities form. Check out the next couple of posts to find out why.