It has been brought to my attention that there is some confusion about what causes cavities. This is a blog geared towards kids' cavities.
I believe good oral hygiene is very important, however, even with good oral hygiene (brushing twice a day and flossing somewhat regularly - let's be honest, flossing every day is asking a lot), cavities still occur. I see it every day.
Some people's teeth are more susceptible than others (genetics) but DIET is the biggest factor.
Here are some pictures of different levels of decay. Front teeth are thin and cavities are easy to see but back teeth are thicker and you can't see in between them. Unless these cavities are large (usually requiring kiddie crowns to fix them) you can only see the cavities with radiographs (x-rays) which must be taken at the dentist office.
Here is a really bad case. I really don't see much of this here in TW, but I have treated several of these cases in NY and had to remove all of their teeth. Very sad. This was probably caused from sleeping with the bottle and the parents had a lot of decay. You can pass the decay causing bacteria to your children when you blow on their food, share spoons, ect....
Eating STICKY, SUGARY foods such as taffy, DRIED FRUIT, jellybeans, fruit roll ups (you get the idea) cause cavities. Frequent carb snacking, too. It sticks to your teeth for long periods of time, the bacteria process it, and acid is released - cavity begins. If this process happens often enough, you get a hole - cavity.
Now, dried fruit (raisins) are healthy and make great snacks. So if you want to eat them, do it as a trail mix with nuts. Nuts help remove the sticky fruit and increase saliva. This decreases the chance of causing cavities and gives some protien which will help keep your kids full for longer.
Soda. Instead of writing a book about this, take an egg shell and put it in a baggie with Coke. Leave it for a week and see what's left. Now imagine that's your teeth.
I hope this has been informative and clears up any confusion.
