Enamel Erosion - How It Affects Your Teeth

Welcome back our beloved reader, can you believe it’s been a year since we began our blog? In the past year Sani Dental Group has offer our visitors numerous of tips, explain dental procedures, invited you to the capital of dental tourism (Los Algodones). For this next year, our dental clinic will continue to offer you weekly dental tips, explain more health and dental procedures, give you vacation ideas, and tell you how to prevent dental diseases. Today 64.7 million of Americans 30 and over suffers some form of gum disease, among these dental diseases Enamel Erosion.

What is Enamel Erosion?

Acid erosion or dental erosion is an irreversible tooth wear, defined as the loss of tooth structure (enamel) due chemicals found in beverages and in the foods we eat.
Enamel is a tooth structure that helps to protect our teeth from daily use, from things like: chewing, biting, crunching and grinding. Although enamel is a strong, thin outer covering of the tooth; this tough shell that is the hardest tissue in our body, can be cracked or chipped. It is important to protect our tooth enamel, as this tissue layer also insulates the teeth from potentially painful temperatures and chemicals. Once tooth enamel is damage or broken, it cannot be repair; unlike a broken bone that can be repaired by the body, enamel has no living cells and damage is done forever.

What leads to Enamel Erosion?

Tooth erosion occurs when acids wear away your tooth enamel, however this is only one of the many causes that can lead to Enamel Erosion. Through recent studies, scientist have discover other problems that lead to enamel erosion include:

• Bulimia
• Diet
• Dry mouth (xerostomia)
• Environmental factors
• Excessive soft drink consumption (example: high levels of phosphoric acids or citric acids)
• Fruit drinks (these can be more erosive than battery acid)
• Gastrointestinal Problems
• Genetics
• Medications
• Vomiting

Acid corrosion, friction, stress, wear and tear are some of the many elements that can lead to enamel erosion.
Other problems that can lead to enamel erosion include, vomiting and bulimia; when one suffers from these eating disorders the stomach acids that travel through the esophagus will cause enamel erosion and tooth decay. For more information associate with habits that can lead to dental problems we invite you to read our post: Habits that Affect Teeth

Always keep in mind that a healthy mouth is a mouth filled with calcium-rich saliva that strengthens teeth and has low acidic levels.

Signs of Enamel Erosion

There are several signs that will indicate to us that we are suffering from dental erosion; the extent of the damage will depend on the stage of dental erosion.
Cracks and Chips – as enamel erodes, the edges of teeth become more jagged, irregular or rough. (This will lead to other dental problems)
Cupping – indentations appear on the surface of the teeth.
Discoloration – as more dentin is exposed, your teeth will begin to lose their color and become yellow.
Sensitivity – if your teeth are sensible to certain foods or temperatures, the root of this sensitivity could be caused by an early stage of enamel erosion.
Severe Pain – in the later stages of dental erosion, your tooth will become extremely sensitive and caused severe pain in your oral cavity.

If you are suffering from any of the symptoms mention above, we invite you to visit your dentist or contact one of our patient coordinators and set-up an appointment with Sani Dental Group. When suffering from enamel erosion, your tooth will be more susceptible to cavities or tooth decay and in it's more advanced stages enamel erosion can lead to tooth loss.

FACT: If cavities grow and penetrate the tooth, they enter the tiny nerve fibers, this will result in extreme pain and infection.

Preventing Enamel Loss

There are a few key steps that you should fallow to prevent enamel loss and keep your teeth strong and healthy, these include brushing and flossing daily and seeing your dentist at the first sign of dental pain or every six months. Other steps Sani Dental Group recommend are:

• Chew sugar-free gum between meals
• Drink water (avoid dry mouth)
• Eliminate highly acidic foods and drinks
• Monitor the snacks you eat
• Use a straw when you drink acidic drinks
• Use fluoride toothpaste

Treating Enamel Loss

Treatment for enamel loss will depend on severity of the problem. To better treat you case, contact the professionals, after diagnosis the dentist might recommend tooth bonding, increasing tooth protection and appearance.
If in your case, you have loss a significant amount of enamel the dentist might recommend covering the tooth with a crown.

There are several ways to prevent and treat dental erosion, if you or a love one is suffering from this oral problem, we invite you to come to Sani Dental Group. In Los Algodones you will find several dentists, but the largest dental clinic the city has to offer is ours, come and be part of the Sani family, enjoy all the benefits and services we have to offer you.