Taking care of our teeth is a very important part of our every day life. If one does not take care of their teeth, then tooth day, or cavities, is likely to occur. The reason this happens is because the bacteria living in our mouths makes acid, and this acid will eat away at our teeth. This is not the only reason for tooth decay. Here are a few other reasons why tooth decay can happen:

Poor Oral Hygiene Practices: Not brushing or flossing your teeth can cause tooth decay to quickly take over your mouth. Brushing helps to remove plaque and food buildup that can form during the day from eating. Flossing helps to remove food that gets stuck between the teeth and also helps to make our gums healthy.

Deep Tooth Crevices: Having deep tooth crevices is not something that you can do anything to avoid. You either have them or you don’t. If you do happen to have deep crevices, there is something that you can do to help with this issue. Your dentist can apply sealants that will fill up the crevices, and help to protect your tooth. These crevices can trap food that is hard for your bristles on your toothbrush to reach. If food stays in for long periods of time, this can cause you to get cavities.

Improper Nutrition: Eating foods that are high in sugar, carbohydrates and acid is a quick way to lead to tooth decay.  Healthy eating foods and avoiding sugary acidic drinks is a great way to help your teeth stay clean and healthy.

Dry Mouth Issues: Saliva helps inhibit the growth of plaque in your mouth, so if you have a dry mouth condition, you can almost guarantee that you will have some sort of dental issue that will lead to tooth decay. Dry mouth issues can be caused by certain medications, genetics or medical conditions such as Diabetes. Your dentist will work with you closely to help prevent tooth decay if you have dry mouth issues.

Tooth Grinding: Tooth grinding is not uncommon, and most people don’t even realize that they do it. Most grinding is done at night while people are asleep. Stress can also cause individuals to grind their teeth. Teeth grinding can lead to tooth decay because it strips away the outer lay of the tooth enamel. There are ways to help this situation by using a mouth guard, or bite guard. Also reducing your stress will help to not grind your teeth.

Age: Age is something that we simply cannot avoid! As we age, cavities become more common due to a variety of factors. We start to take more medication, which can cause dry mouth, our gums start to recede, we become forgetful and improper oral hygiene starts to occur. This is just a fact of life, but if we take good care of our teeth while younger, it gives our teeth a fighting chance, as we get older.