Dentist-Filling...white or amalgam?

brook2jack

It doesn't matter how much sugar you eat with meals, they could be nothing but sugar and it wouldn't be a problem for your teeth. It's what you eat and drink between meals that's the problem.

In the UK the average person eats seven times a day and it's the odd biscuit, the cup of tea with half a sugar, the fruit juice, the fruit tea , the yoghurt, the packet of raisins that's the problem when consumed between meals.

Dentistry, nhs or otherwise , doesn't stop dental disease , it's the choices people make every day about their diet that affects dental disease.

In my area 50% of children have a missing,decayed or filled tooth by the time they are 5!!! Dental decay is the third most common reason for a child to need a hospital bed.

The shame is that 95% of all dental treatment is entirely preventable but that prevention lies not in the hands of a dentist who may see a person for a few minutes each year but in the choices that person makes all the rest of the year.

C_Mababejive

Thanks for your input brookie & Toothie.

I guess i am of that generation that perhaps suffered to some degree at the hands of the olde worlde NHS school clinic dentist. Thats where children learned to fear dentists and it was where bad things happened.
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Its only in the last couple of decades that I have unlearned that fear and apprehension and got myself more educated on dental matters.

The new dentist i visited the other day could not have been better.

I can see there being even worse problems for kids today though in spite of better education.

When i was a kid growing up in poverty in the 70's i dont recall there being any fizzy pop given to me nor much in the way of processed foods. It was just basic, two or three meals a day and no fridge or cupboard to raid for snacks.

I cant see children being coaxed into using floss and interdental brushes though i guess you could train them to do a half decent job of brushing?

There is a lack of knowledge around..for example i used to brush ,spit,rinse,spit until partner told me i shouldnt.

Teeth whitening is the big thing now with lots of brits wanting hollywood smiles when clearly,that isnt the natural tooth colour.

People are engaging in all sorts of diy bleaching and grinding with abrasives causing long term damage.

Yes,,dentists incomes are secure for the forseeable future....

Toothsmith

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Thanks for your input brookie & Toothie.

I guess i am of that generation that perhaps suffered to some degree at the hands of the olde worlde NHS school clinic dentist. Thats where children learned to fear dentists and it was where bad things happened.

They were generally only fixing the damage in the best way that they could at that time though. Fluoride toothpaste hadn't been around long enough to be really making an impact, and the post-war rationing 'bounce' when sugar was not rationed anymore so the population went a bit mental with sweeties




Its only in the last couple of decades that I have unlearned that fear and apprehension and got myself more educated on dental matters.

The new dentist i visited the other day could not have been better.

I can see there being even worse problems for kids today though in spite of better education.

When i was a kid growing up in poverty in the 70's i dont recall there being any fizzy pop given to me nor much in the way of processed foods. It was just basic, two or three meals a day and no fridge or cupboard to raid for snacks.

Corona pop with 10p deposit on the bottles? Black Jacks? Fruit Salads? Thunderbird/Captain Scarlet sweet cigarettes? Spangles? Even if you didn't buy them, your friends would have, and shared them in the playground? As Brook said - all it takes is a regular pattern of one or two sweets at inappropriate times to cause big problems

I cant see children being coaxed into using floss and interdental brushes though i guess you could train them to do a half decent job of brushing?

For decay prevention DIET is the important thing. Clean teeth help, and getting fluoride toothpaste around the teeth helps - but good cleaning, although a good habit to get into, and preventing gum disease later on, doesn't do that much to stop decay.

There is a lack of knowledge around..for example i used to brush ,spit,rinse,spit until partner told me i shouldnt.

Teeth whitening is the big thing now with lots of brits wanting hollywood smiles when clearly,that isnt the natural tooth colour.

People are engaging in all sorts of diy bleaching and grinding with abrasives causing long term damage.

Yes,,dentists incomes are secure for the forseeable future....

The first thing is to realize that decay is DIET related.

The little tiny bits of sugar at too frequent intervals.

C_Mababejive

So what is the ideal anti decay diet then..?

brook2jack

No sugary stuff more than three times a day. Ie eat and drink what you like at meal times, no sugary stuff between meals.