Dr Shail Jaggi: Busting Dental Myths

By
Dr Shail Jaggi
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The last weekend was a long lazy one with plenty of social activity and meeting up with friends. A luxury I don’t generally have during all my working days. It was lots of fun and being a dentist, I was invariably sucked into plenty of dental conversations. Leading me, to ponder about plenty of dental myths and misconceptions people have. I present a few here that I though were really common and help bust them.

Charcoal whitens teeth:

  • Myth: Thanks to plenty of advertisements doing the rounds these days I’ve been asked, where they can pick up charcoal to whiten teeth?
  • Busted: Let’s be clear about the fact that we are talking about activated charcoal here, which cannot be got easily and not your regular ‘koyla’. Also, brushing and cleaning with this can be aggressive on the enamel. Not to mention the mess it can cause. Want to pick a charcoal tooth paste? that may be okay. But plain charcoal off your barbecue grill, bad idea!

Bad breath –Am I not brushing enough?

  • Myth: I have bad breath; I’m just going to need to brush harder.
  • Busted: The only thing brushing harder is going to do is wear away the enamel and damage teeth further. Halitosis can be really embarrassing and unpleasant for family and friends. Brushing away like there’s no tomorrow will rarely take care of the problem. Very often, the origin can be dry mouth because of medications, long standing stomach problems, patients suffering from tonsillitis or a post nasal drip. Insufficient water during the day is very common. Just a few lifestyle changes can restore the problem and make you confident again.

Baby teeth

  • Myth: Why bother with child’s milk teeth? They are going to fall anyways.
  • Busted: This decision could be your worst one considering your child’s long term dental health. The milk teeth need as much attention and care as do the permanent teeth; they should be regularly checked by someone like this Pediatric Dentist in Vineland. They maintain space for the larger permanent teeth. Pulling out milk teeth could lead to severe crowding of the teeth as the child grows older.

Cleaning the teeth loosens them

  • Myth: I avoid scaling and polishing as it can loosen my teeth.
  • Busted: I wonder where this one found its origin from. On the contrary, not getting a regular cleaning and polishing can cause plaque and tartar deposits. The gum and jaw bone may get affected and this may actually cause the tooth to loosen. So please don’t ignore that routine check that your dentist advises.

I never go to the dentist –I have really healthy teeth

  • Myth: No, dental discomfort doesn’t really mean you have no dental problems.
  • Busted: It’s great to never have visited a dentist. But, taking your teeth for granted could be a mistake and an expensive one at that. Today I practice Micro dentistry. Its a rapidly evolving science. It works in a prophylactic way. The smallest problem can be caught at the earliest. Sparing you a lot of discomfort and plenty of expensive dental bills.

It’s okay to eat sweets as long as I brush immediately after.

  • Myth: Brushing right after sweets will prevent tooth decay from happening.
  • Busted: This is a great rule to follow and am sure will show great results. Except that it doesn’t work practically. How many times have you seen someone eat sweet and brush right after? What makes more practical sense is to wash off the sweet with finger salads like cut cucumber or carrot. If that doesn’t work, then swishing the mouth with a swig of water right after, to neutralize the acidic pH is a more practical way of doing it.

    • I sign off with this bit for now but I am going to continue with a few more myths next week. So make sure you stay tuned in …till next week then.

     

    Dr Shail Jaggi
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