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Constant eating affects PH balance?

post #1 of 17
5/14/08 at 11:32pm
Thread Starter 
At a particularly shitty dentist appt. today my dentist accused me of having a sweet tooth because I have a lot of cavities. I don't have a sweet tooth, eat low amounts of sugar, and none in the form of skittles and that crap, yet my enamel is rather bad on my teeth. (Also do all the necessary fluoride, floss, brush yada yada..)

She asked if I eat constantly, once she finally realized a cared about my body, and I said yes. And she said that could be the reason. She said that constant eating could disrupt the PH levels in my mouth and affect the strength of my enamel. I had never heard this and it doesn't quite make sense to me. Anyone else ever heard this?
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post #2 of 17
5/14/08 at 11:44pm
Starches are often worse than sugar.

Your dentist is goofy. You'd have to have some pretty overly acidic saliva for it to wear at your enamel.
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post #3 of 17
5/15/08 at 12:02am
Thread Starter 
Interesting... That I did not know. Would you mind explaining how?


Yea I thought that was odd.. But shes some Yale lady so I thought she might know something... But I don't trust dentists, always out for money.

I do a lot of running and I always breath predominantly through my mouth, also when sleeping I breath through my mouth and various dentists have said this could dry out my gums and create cavities.

Dentists give me all sorts of weird explanations.
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post #4 of 17
5/15/08 at 12:30am
I run about 25 miles a week and eat about 7 (small) meals a day and never had a cavity in my life...
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post #5 of 17
5/15/08 at 2:25am
http://www.brunswickdental.net/forms.php She knows her shit... This article you might find helpful the topic, but especially this excerpt:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Article
Role of Diet in raising Acidity
  • Acidic foods and drinks, many meals and snacks throughout the day, sports drinks etc can all affect the pH balance of the mouth, creating an acidic environment that encourages the formation of tooth decay.
  • Any refined carbohydrates can result in the formation of Acids.
  • Frequency of Eating – Especially Sugar. A diet with small or large amounts of sugar taken at frequent intervals leads to a high decay rate due to acid levels being raised for longer periods. A small or large amount of sugar taken only once or twice a day does not cause decay. It is the frequency not the quantity. Low frequency intake gives time for the decay area to remineralise to the extent that no clinical decay will appear (providing one has healthy saliva).
I never really understood patient distrust so much, health professionals spend years get where they are for a reason. (not a jab at the OP, but more rather a thought).
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post #6 of 17
5/15/08 at 4:22am
Thread Starter 
See most of that stuff I don't do.. An occasional diet coke is literally the extent... or yea a sports drink also. But because the dentists have gotten on me so much I always rinse with fluoride multiple times a day and after meals so there is nothing laying around in my mouth to promote decay... and if I don't have fluoride I'll have a whole bunch of water that pretty much removes everything... But again, whats being removed is not sugar or refined carbs, its pretty natural stuff - grains, eggs, chicken etc etc... so I'm lost on why I keep getting cavities.

Which leads me to why I don't trust my dentists... Not once have I ever had pain in my mouth that resulted from a cavity ( I have pain right now cause apparently I had two and they were filled, so I am sore) But seriously, I've apparently had 14 cavities in my life and no resulting pain or discomfort so naturally I am weary.

I get that they are well trained. But thats part of the issue, they are trained and in the position of authority, who am I to say they are right or wrong and 99 times out of 100 the patient (and their money) will go along with them. One time I just walked out on a dentist cause he refused to believe that I didn't drink soda or eat loads of sugar.

You have to understand my distrust when I do everything right with regards to tooth care, eat well, have never actually felt pain yet I get racked up with 14 cavities.
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post #7 of 17
5/15/08 at 8:38am
I was gonna say...how is the dentist right? rjmaiorano said he didn't do those things.

Starches are generally worse than sugar because they tend to stick to teeth more due to the hygrophobic nature and bacteria can still feed on starches.

Eat some saltines or breakfast cereal and you'll see what I mean.

Some day people will realize 'sugar' should stop being used as a category of evils and simply as a classification for monosaccharides and disaccharides.
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post #8 of 17
5/15/08 at 9:15am
I was just at a new dentist., first, she had a whole set of cool new toys - an ultrasound to listen to my jaw, a little camera to show me my teeth in close up, etc.

my initial examinaiton was 90 minutes, but way more thurough than I have ever had.

my enamel is pretty worn down for my age, and after talking with her it seems chewing ice is the culprit, which makes sense to me.
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post #9 of 17
5/15/08 at 6:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by globetrotter View Post
my enamel is pretty worn down for my age, and after talking with her it seems chewing ice is the culprit, which makes sense to me.


this is bad. real bad. imagine grating your precious but minimal enamel (which you cannot remanufacture) on steel or granite/rock.

the ice is the same type of abrasion at the moment of contact. there is no elasticity in ice, it is essentially as hard as rock or steel. of course, the fact that it is water confuses most that it is safe to chew on.
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post #10 of 17
5/15/08 at 6:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by shoe View Post
this is bad. real bad. imagine grating your precious but minimal enamel (which you cannot remanufacture) on steel or granite/rock.

the ice is the same type of abrasion at the moment of contact. there is no elasticity in ice, it is essentially as hard as rock or steel. of course, the fact that it is water confuses most that it is safe to chew on.

yes, yes, I know it is bad. but it is one of the few pleasures left me in life.

actually, the denstist made it very clear to me yesterday how bad it is, and I have sworn off ice for now.
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post #11 of 17
5/16/08 at 12:31am
one of the benefits of eating a predominately fruits and veggies (especially greener ones) rather than grains for the carbohydrates portion of your diet is that it creates a more basic environment for your stomach. although general large well designed long term trials are lacking alkaline diets are thought to help with chronic diseases. to be honest much of the benefits are doubtful, but one thing for sure is that eating fruits and veggies more than grains creates a more alkaline environment for your body. it might help with your cavities.
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post #12 of 17
5/16/08 at 3:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjmaiorano View Post
Dentists give me all sorts of weird explanations.

they are all mad because there haven't been any real advances in their field in about a hundred years and they have to smell peoples breath all day long. Really the only thing that keeps them sane is charging absurd amounts for their services, and using the money to buy new gizmos that do exactly what the older, slightly less gizmoier gizmo did before.
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post #13 of 17
5/16/08 at 4:04am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by thepataphysician View Post
they are all mad because there haven't been any real advances in their field in about a hundred years and they have to smell peoples breath all day long. Really the only thing that keeps them sane is charging absurd amounts for their services, and using the money to buy new gizmos that do exactly what the older, slightly less gizmoier gizmo did before.

agreed. bastards
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post #14 of 17
5/17/08 at 3:45pm
http://www.wisconsinreconstructiveim...el_damage.html

A few rare causes aren't listed, and the practice of rinsing with water after eating or drinking (before brushing) isn't mentioned.
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post #15 of 17
5/18/08 at 5:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjmaiorano View Post
She said that constant eating could disrupt the PH levels in my mouth and affect the strength of my enamel. I had never heard this and it doesn't quite make sense to me. Anyone else ever heard this?
My dentist, who always seems to be up on all the latest research, recently told me pretty much the same thing. In fact, he wants me to chew Xylitol-sweetened gum after every meal to restore my mouth to its proper anti-bacterial PH level. The gum's cheap (and no, he isn't selling it to me), so I'm following his instructions.
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