by Dr Mathew George
Photo: Steve Adams
The condition of a person’s teeth and gums can affect their whole health. Strong teeth are needed to eat food like nuts, maize, fruits and meat, which are important for good health. Mouth pain can make eating difficult and lead to malnutrition. Oral health problems such as tooth decay and gum disease are caused by not cleaning teeth properly.
Here are some guidelines for maintaining healthy teeth and gums:
- Brush your teeth and clean your gums regularly, preferably twice a day.
- After eating, cleanse your mouth thoroughly, so that no bits of food are left on your teeth. Try to avoid eating snacks between meals.
- Rinse your mouth every day with warm salt water to keep your gums healthy.
- Where possible, visit a dentist for a check up regularly.
Diet and dental health
Instead of growing and preparing their own food, many people are now eating more processed foods bought from shops, such as bread, sweets, chocolate and biscuits. It is especially important for children, older people and pregnant women to eat the right foods. Try to eat a lot of fresh fruits and leafy green vegetables. Vegetables have fibre in them and this prevents food from sticking in the mouth. Fresh fruits contain vitamins and minerals that help ensure healthy gums. If it is difficult for you to bite into fruit, squeeze it and drink the juice.
Soft and sweet food, and drinks with a lot of sugar are bad for both teeth and gums. Sweet food can mix with germs and make cavities – holes in the teeth. Soft food sticks to teeth more easily and can mix with germs to cause gum disease if you do not clean your teeth.
- If there is a painful cavity, crush some cloves and place them, or oil of cloves, in the cavity. This will help to ease the pain. Seek dental treatment as quickly as possible.
- If there is bleeding from the gums, rinse with salt water or dissolve a spoonful of salt in a few drops of water and massage the gums with this solution.
Sensitive teeth
Sometimes people experience sharp pain in their teeth when they eat hot, cold, sweet, or sour foods and drinks. If you often eat foods such as lemons and other citrus fruits, then the acid that these contain can damage the enamel coating of your teeth. To help with this sensitivity, it is important to maintain good oral hygiene, and continue to clean all parts of your teeth and mouth thoroughly.
Babies’ teeth
Tooth decay is a common problem even in babies and young children. Their teeth become painful and appear brown or dark in colour. It can cause infection of the gums and an early loss of teeth. This condition is often found in babies who are bottle-fed. Babies tend to drink slowly from bottles and the constant dripping effects of the sugar in the milk onto the front teeth causes rapid decay.
To avoid this:
- Breastfeed rather than bottle-feed.
- Do not give a baby anything to drink from a bottle. Sweet tea, sugar water or fruit juice can easily damage the child’s teeth.
- A baby’s teeth and gums should be cleaned after every feed or meal, beginning as soon as the first teeth appear.
- Babies should be encouraged to use a cup as soon as they can, as they are less likely to drink continuously from a cup.
Dr Mathew George is Coordinator of Oral Health Services for the Emmanuel Hospital Association.
The Duncan Hospital
Raxaul
Bihar 845305
India
Email: mathew@eha-health.org
Website: www.eha-health.org