Food Choices That Prevent Tooth Decay:  It’s no fun passing up sugary treats like cookies and candies. But when it comes to tooth decay, food choices play an important role. Some foods can harm your teeth, while others contain essential nutrients to keep them healthy and strong. To help prevent tooth decay, keep the following food choices in mind.

Fruit, Fiber and Veggies:  Eating high-fiber foods keeps saliva flowing, which helps create mineral defenses against tooth decay. Good sources of fiber are dried fruits such as dates, raisins and figs, and fresh fruits, like bananas, apples and oranges. Other options include veggies, such as beans, Brussels sprouts and peas, along with peanuts, almonds and bran.

Helpful Tips

There are different categories of mouth rinses, but those that contain fluoride can help prevent cavities by protecting teeth against cavity-causing bacteria. Using a fluoride rinse can enhance your regular oral care routine, but remember that using a fluoride rinse does not replace twice-daily tooth brushing and daily flossing for

Complete oral health.

Follow these steps to get the most from your fluoride mouth rinse:

Brush and floss first. Teeth should be as clean as possible to get the full benefit from a rinse.

Use the right amount. Use the amount of rinse indicated on the label or as directed by your dentist.

Swish like you mean it. Keep your mouth closed and swish the rinse vigorously for at least 30 seconds.

Spit. Don’t swallow mouth rinses. The sodium fluoride in most fluoride rinses can be toxic, if large quantities are swallowed. If you allow your child use mouthwash, supervise to be sure that he or she spits it out and doesn’t swallow it.

To get the most benefit from a mouth rinse, avoid eating, drinking or smoking for at least 30 minutes so you don’t dilute the fluoride.

Good oral hygiene keeps teeth free from dental plaque buildup, staves off cavities and fights bad breath. Your at-home oral hygiene routine should consist of regular brushing and flossing.  A healthy diet that’s low in sugary foods is also an essential part of good oral hygiene. Regular dental visits every six months allow your dentist or dental hygienist to provide oral hygiene instructions. Your dentist may recommend oral hygiene products that cater to your mouth’s unique needs. And don’t forget our oral hygiene index — an excellent resource when you’re looking for information on good oral hygiene.

  Using a Flosser

If you don’t like reaching into the back of your mouth, or if you are helping a child or elderly parent with oral hygiene, a flosser may be the right product to meet your flossing needs. A flosser is, in simplest terms, a piece of dental floss on a handle. Many types of flossers are available, and any of them will help promote oral health when you use them properly to clean between and around teeth. Which flosser you choose comes down to personal preference, but look for a model with a long handle for easier holding and a compact head that makes it easier to reach behind the back teeth—a particularly tricky spot to clean.

 Flosser Type Some flossers are totally disposable and others have disposable, refillable heads. You can also buy flossers that have specially designed handles with no-slip grips to make them even easier to hold. Some flossers have an area that works as a tongue scraper, and others come in small sizes with child-friendly designs.

A supernumerary tooth lying among, lingual to, or buccal to the maxillary or mandibular molars. Paramolar is a developmental anomaly and has been argued to arise from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Supernumerary teeth can be found in almost any region of the dental arch. They are most frequently located in the maxilla. The crowns of supernumerary teeth may show either a normal appearance or different atypical shapes and their roots may be completely or incompletely developed.

Enamel pearl is a condition of teeth where enamel is found on locations where enamel is not supposed to be, such as on a root surface. They are found usually in the area between roots, which is called a furcation, of molars. Enamel pearls are not common in teeth with a single root. The most common location of enamel pearl is the furcation areas of the maxillary and mandibular third molar roots.