Routinely taking care of your teeth

As the name suggests, preventative dentistry is essentially the practice of routinely cleaning, examining, and taking care of your teeth to prevent dental issues. By taking a preventative approach to your oral hygiene, you can minimise your risk of developing these issues in the first place, rather than having to deal with them once they’ve appeared.

Why is preventative dentistry needed?

If you are not regularly brushing, flossing, and having dental cleanings, plaque can build up in your teeth and cause gum disease and tooth decay.
When you eat, plaque bacteria use the sugars contained in many foods to produce acids. These acids eat away at the protective enamel coating your teeth.

Repeated exposure to these acids can cause the breakdown of the enamel and eventually result in cavities.

Furthermore, when not removed by regular brushing and flossing, plaque can harden and form tartar. As plaque, tartar and bacteria continue to build up, they can affect your gum tissue, leading to swollen, red and inflamed gums. This is what is known as gingivitis, an early stage of periodontitis or gum disease.

Periodontitis is a serious form of gum disease resulting from a bacterial infection. It causes your gums to dissolve or recede leaving the bone supporting your teeth to slowly break down.

Not only can Periodontitis affect your smile by revealing an underlying tooth structure that should not be visible, it can also lead to tooth loss.

To avoid plaque building up, not only should you regularly brush, floss and have dental cleanings, your diet should also be considered. Plaque requires sugars and carbohydrates to form, so the more of this that you eat, the more plaque is likely to build up. So it is best to avoid or at least limit your intake of sweets, fizzy drinks and other sweet foods as much as possible.

That being said, many healthy, non-sweet foods, such as bread, potatoes, corn, and cereal, also contain carbohydrates. So, some plaque will form whenever you eat, even if you completely eliminate sweets from your diet.