What are the causes of tooth decay in children What are the causes of tooth decay in children

Tooth decay is a multi-factor disease, mainly including three aspects: diet, bacteria, teeth and saliva, all three are interrelated, and without one aspect, caries cannot occur. Nowadays, children believe that saliva, as the external environment of the teeth, is an important factor affecting caries.

Children prefer to eat sweets, and sticky sweets are easy to adhere to the tooth surface, which provides sufficient nutrients for the cariogenic bacteria in dental plaque, and the organic acids produced after metabolism are very carigenic. Therefore, eat less sweets, especially not before bedtime, and always brush your teeth after eating before bedtime.

What should I do if my child has tooth decay? Star Awareness Project

Eat a lot of sweets for a long timeSweets are a kind of food that many friends like to eat, and this kind of sweets are particularly preferred by children, such as chocolate, biscuits, pastries, etc., if these sweet things are attached to the surface of the teeth for a long time, then it will provide powerful conditions for caries bacteria in dental plaque, and finally lead to the occurrence of dental caries. Brushing your teeth incorrectlyThe correct way to brush teeth should be to use horizontal brushing on the chewing surface of the teeth, and vertical brushing on the inner and outer sides of the teeth, so that the dirt on the surface of the teeth can be completely brushed, and food debris and plaque can be avoided from eroding the teeth. Don't brush your teeth after eatingMany children do not have the habit of brushing their teeth after dinner, this bad habit is the biggest cause of tooth decay, because food will adhere to the surface of the teeth in large quantities, and if you do not brush your teeth after dinner, then a large amount of food residue will be stored in the gaps between the teeth, and finally lead to the occurrence of tooth decay.

Improper use of toothpasteChildren's tooth decay may be caused by improper selection of toothpaste, some toothpastes with high alkaline content are actually not suitable for brushing, so we should buy some fluoride toothpastes in our daily life, and we should also rinse our mouths with foam in our mouths for two or three minutes when brushing our teeth, so that the foam can flow back and forth between the lips and teeth, and the fluoride ions can be dissolved in the foam to protect the teeth.

Never check your dental healthIt is necessary to have regular dental check-ups, because caries is not easy to detect in the early stage, and once the condition worsens, then there will be pain, and there will be small black holes in the teeth at this time, so regular dental check-ups can also avoid the occurrence of caries.

Teeth are not alignedSome patients have tooth decay, which may be caused by the irregular alignment of their own teeth, because crooked teeth are easy to stuff food into the gap between the teeth when chewing food, and it is also easy to let the food stay on the surface of the teeth, and finally cause tooth decay, so once you find that your teeth are not aligned, you can correct it by restoration.

Hard teeth are important organs for us to chew food, and dental health protection needs to start small. However, when the baby has a toothache, black spots and black holes on the surface of the teeth, it may be suffering from tooth decay and needs to be timed. So you know what? Let's take a look.

Tooth decay in children**

1.Bacteria Bacteria are the main cause of tooth decay. There are many types of bacteria that can cause tooth decay, and these bacteria are generally divided into acid-producing bacteria that can demineralize teeth and gram-positive cocci that destroy organic matter, and some of them Streptococcus mutans and lactobacilli are the main pathogenic bacteria.

Bacteria mix with mucin in trapped food and saliva to form plaque that adheres to the tooth and the surface and between the teeth, and the plaque produces bacteria to produce acid and demineralize the tooth. In general, the more plaque in the mouth, the more tooth decay your child has.

2.Food Sugars and carbohydrates are the main components of food, and they also provide bacteria with the energy to survive and thrive. The bacteria use the retained food as raw materials and produce organic acids through fermentation, which accelerates the growth of acid-producing bacteria and demineralizes the teeth.

Other bacteria can dissolve proteins, which can cause black holes to form on or inside teeth.

3.Saliva Saliva has the effect of reducing the bacteria of tan dust, inhibiting the adhesion of dental plaque, and preventing acid and dissolution. Decreased saliva is a favorable condition for bacteria to grow, which is more likely to produce plaque.

In addition, if the proportion of lactate in saliva increases or the proportion of carbonate decreases, it will also create favorable environmental conditions for the development of dental caries.

4.Tooth structure.

If the tooth pits and fissures are deep, it is easy to get stuck in food and it is difficult to remove, resulting in residues that can easily cause tooth decay; If the tooth is deficient in mineral elements such as calcium, the tooth enamel density is low and easily damaged, resulting in tooth decay. If the tooth is deficient in fluoride, it is susceptible to tooth decay; In the case of baby teeth or newly replaced permanent teeth, the risk of caries is higher than that of mature permanent teeth due to immature calcification.

5.Time After a tooth is infected with bacteria, it takes one and a half to two years to fully form a cavity. Therefore, it takes a long time for caries to occur.

Symptoms of tooth decay in children

Different degrees of infection will have different symptom characteristics, and for different degrees of infection caries, it can be divided into three categories: superficial, medium and deep caries.

1.Superficial caries: The lesion is only in the enamel. There are black or white spots on the surface of the teeth, and there are often plugged teeth in one place when eating, but the child does not feel pain or discomfort.

2.Medial caries: the area of the lesion extends to the dentin. At this time, the tooth has a shallow cavity, and the tooth is susceptible to cold, hot, acidic food** or the pain is obvious when the tooth is plugged with food, but the discomfort will disappear with the removal of food.

3.Deep caries: the affected area reaches the pulp cavity. At this point, the pain is obvious and not easy to resolve. If the lesion has not been taken to this extent, it is easy to cause other diseases, such as apical ophthalmia, alveolar bone inflammation, osteomyelitis and even some systemic diseases.