Welcome to the Supertooth Blog Supertooth and the Good Food Friends Plaque Watch school project http://supertooth.ndk.biz   http://fooddownunder.com

Christmas is a time to celebrate and to forget your dentists advice to avoid sweets particularly between meals. In fact it is hard to avoid fermentable carbohydrate at any meal or snack so here are some hints for catering to help consumers limit food being trapped while eating and changed to acid between teeth and inside grooves on chewing surfaces where almost all cavities occur and the brush, toothpaste, mouthwash and chewing gum, cannot reach.
 
Chew sugarless foods like cheese and nuts before meals or snacks to block access for other foods and help reduce acid attack while eating.
 
Chew fibre like celery string after eating to force saliva around teeth and inside grooves on chewing surfaces to dilute sugars, neutralise acid and repair demineralised tooth. If you chew celery string after brushing some fluoride toothpaste still in the mouth will help saliva remineralise and toughen grooves in chewing surfaces where over 80% of cavities occur.
 
Even with the benefits of fluoride, dental health education and a $304 million oral hygiene industry, tooth decay is still the most common and second most costly diet related disease with an economic impact comparable with that of heart disease and diabetes. Food left trapped after every meal or snack is the source of carbohydrate that is changed to acid causing decay. These few tooth care hints will reduce acid attack and help prevent tooth decay.

Chewing Barium Sulphate with suitable fibre before x-rays (above) shows where food is trapped and that it is hard to replace indicating that chewing a suitable sealant before eating, helps prevent food being trapped and changed to acid. This may prove to be a low cost diagnostic aid for dental professionals as well as demonstrating how chewing a suitable sealant and or a suitable fibre like celery string for a few minutes after eating also helps displace trapped food, neutralize acid and repair demineralised tooth.

If you would like to receive occasional Supertooth updates, please please click here to register your email address which will not be used for any other purpose and you can cancel or change your address at any time. Please ask your friends to register too.

I hope dentists, parents, teachers, education and health autorities will use the Supertooth and good food friends project and use the logo to make name badges for staff and the teaching aids to help develop tooth care skills that do not leave food on teeth after every meal or snack.

Regards yndk@ndk.biz