Just like the body can change, your tooth enamel can change over time too. This actually happens every single day without you knowing it. Depending on what you eat and drink throughout the day, your teeth demineralize and remineralize to different degrees. Your oral hygiene, your health and even your age can determine if your tooth enamel is changing in ways that will hurt or harm your oral health. Find out how your tooth enamel changes daily and throughout your life and why!

First, What is Tooth Enamel

Tooth enamel is the hard, outer surface layer of your teeth that guards against tooth decay. Surprisingly, tooth enamel is the hardest mineral substance in your body–yep, even stronger than bone.

Understanding Demineralization and Remineralization

Saliva keeps your teeth moist so that they can help absorb necessary nutrients and minerals. Everyday, foods and drinks strip away minerals from your teeth. This is called “demineralization”. However, foods and drinks also have minerals in them that are reintroduced when you eat.

Calcium products will have calcium, magnesium, phosphate and more. Those minerals help remineralize your teeth and are carried in your saliva when you eat.

People who have dry mouth—or who don’t make enough saliva—will start to have problems with their teeth and oral health in general.

What Makes Tooth Enamel Change?

There are several things that impact the health of your tooth enamel, one of which is just the simple day-to-day wear and tear.  But much of what causes your tooth enamel to change and thin can be prevented or at least slowed.

The top contender for tooth enamel saboteur is food and liquid that hits your tooth enamel on a daily basis. The acidic content and the make-up of what you eat (sticky, crunchy) all play a role.

Another culprit? Dry mouth. The technical term for this is Xerostomia. Your saliva is made up of about 98% water. However, it’s the minerals that saliva carries that help your teeth. Water itself doesn’t generally carry tons of minerals, but saliva does as it pulls those minerals from food and drink. However, a person can’t do that as well if their mouth is chronically dry. Oftentimes, medications can have side effects that dry up your mouth. You may notice that you are getting thirsty more often or that your mouth is always dry. Check with your doctor about medication side effects and if those are causing your problems. A poorly hydrated mouth, leads to poorly hydrated teeth causing your tooth enamel to erode more quickly.

How Can You Prevent Tooth Enamel Erosion?

One of the best ways to prevent tooth enamel erosion is to modify your diet, avoiding foods that are known culprits to tooth enamel erosion:

• Soda: full of sugar which promotes cavities and tooth decay. Caffeinated sugars also promote dry mouth.  
• Alcohol: linked to dry mouth and mouth cancer
• Sports Drinks: high sugar content makes them hazardous to your health.
• Hard Candies: Can cause chips and breaks, are full of sugar that can eat away at tooth enamel.
• Ice: damages enamel when chewed.
• Citrus:  The high acidic content of citrus foods and drinks can eat away at the enamel of your teeth. Citrus foods also irritate mouth sores.
• Coffee: Stains teeth and also promotes dry mouth. Dry mouth is linked to tooth decay because of the decrease in saliva which is necessary to help removed food particles from your teeth enamel.
• Sticky foods (especially fruits/dried fruits): stick to your teeth, eating away at the tooth enamel longer than other foods.
• Crunchy foods (chips, nuts): crunchy foods are more likely to cause chips and breaks requiring emergency dental care. Crunchy foods are also more prone to get caught between your teeth.

Other things you can do? Practice excellent oral hygiene and keep your regular dental visits to Dr. Bockrath to slow down the thinning of the enamel.

Call for a Tooth Enamel Exam and Consultation

If you would like to learn more about how you can protect your teeth’s tooth enamel, call our office today!  Mountain Aire Dentistry, located in Broomfield, CO is a general and family dentistry practice. We are passionate about helping you and your children achieve and maintain optimal oral health and a beautiful smile! We focus on prevention, tooth preservation, and awareness and make every effort to treat our patients the way we treat members of our own family. We offer comprehensive care for your dental needs in a relaxed and efficient atmosphere.  We look forward to meeting you and your family! Call us today at (303) 731-7755 to make an appointment.