What is gum disease and what causes it?
When you don’t brush your teeth for a while, you will notice a yellowish sticky paste that accumulates on them. This material looks like food debris, but it’s actually a film of bacteria that forms on the surface of the teeth and gums every day.
Many of these bacteria are harmless. But others happily munch away at the same food you’re eating and then excrete toxins and enzymes – using the grooves where your tooth meets the gum as a toilet of sorts. Bacteria thrive in the plaque environment and multiply until they account for nearly 100% of the mass of the plaque. This is why it’s important to remove it.
When your body notices the toxins, it mounts a defense against them by creating lots of new little blood vessels in the area to fight off the infection. The new blood vessels make the gums look red and swollen. But the bacteria attack the blood vessels, which then become fragile and bleed easily.
This first stage of gum disease is called gingivitis, and it can be easily reversed. But gum disease is painless, and many people are unaware that they have it (most adults do have some degree of gum disease). As it progresses, the bone that anchors the teeth in the jaw is lost, making the teeth loose. If this is not treated, the teeth may eventually fall out or have to be taken out because of pain.
What can you do to prevent it?
The trick is simple:
Clean the teeth thoroughly once per day (preferably last thing before going to bed).
The usual advice is to brush twice per day because sometimes people may skip a brushing or not do it thoroughly, because they are in a rush or because they are too exhausted at the end of a long day.