Dental erosion

Dental erosion

Erosion of the tooth enamel is one of the many reasons of tooth pain. Dental erosion happens when too much acid breaks down tooth enamel. This is the hard, outer layer that gives the teeth their structure. Normally, the calcium that is always present in saliva neutralizes the acid in our food. This protects the tooth enamel against erosion. But if you consume a lot of very acidic food or drink, the calcium in your saliva may not be enough for this. Pure fruit juice and all kinds of fizzy drinks (even sugar-free ones) are highly acidic. So if you drink a lot of this, you may be more at risk of dental erosion.

 The symptoms of dental erosion include:

• Toothache: Wearing of the enamel can make your teeth more sensitive to hot and cold foods.
• Discolouration: Your teeth may look more yellow because of more dentin lying open (the layer under the enamel).
• Transparency: Your front teeth may appear transparent around the edges you bite with.
• Cracks and dents: Weathering of the tooth enamel can result your teeth to crack and small dents can appear on the chewing surface.

To prevent dental erosion, it is important that you look closely at your food and drink. In the case of dental erosion, it is not only about how many acidic products you eat and drink, but especially about how you do that. The more often you do this and the longer you keep acidic products in your mouth, the greater the risk of dental erosion.