Enamel
Your teeth are made of enamel, the hardest substance in your body. Enamel must be hard so that when you chew your food your teeth do not easily break. They also protect the nerves and dental pulp inside your gums. Enamel is very firm yet can be brittle at the same time. Although tooth enamel can withstand impact damage like a sharp elbow to the mouth or biting on a chicken bone, it is very susceptible to erosion caused by plaque formation, especially when sugar is involved.
Plaque and Sugar
Plaque is a thin, sticky substance that forms on your teeth after you eat. It is a clear substance that can hardly be seen by the naked eye but feels hairy on your tongue if you rub it against the teeth. Plaque mostly forms when you eat foods heavy in carbohydrates or sugar and food debris is left behind in the mouth.
The problem with plaque is that it is the main source of food for bacteria in your mouth. When the bacteria feed on plaque, they form acids. If these acids aren't removed, they eventually erode the enamel on your teeth and begin to cause cavities. Some plaques lead to gum disease known as gingivitis.
Gingivitis
If plaques and acids begin to accumulate along the base of the tooth enamel it is known as tartar. Tartar can cause gingivitis, a type of gum disease involving the erosion of the gum line. Gingivitis causes more exposure to the teeth's nerves, causing great pain that is felt especially with temperature changes in the mouth. Eventually the exposure can leave the support for the tooth in a weakened state, causing them to fall out.
To save these teeth from gingivitis and other gum diseases, dentists sometimes perform root canals, which extract damaged dental pulp from the middle of the tooth. If it isn't removed, the pulp will continue to allow bacteria to grow and thrive inside your gums, rotting them from the inside out and causing even more pain.
Prevention
As you can see, sugar causes quite the chain reaction when it comes to gum disease. Dentists recommend that you brush and floss your teeth daily for this reason. By brushing your teeth and the gum lines, you remove the plaque that starts the chain reaction, as well as any food debris not seen by the naked eye. Flossing digs into the gum line a little farther to remove debris and tartar that otherwise would stay and rot the teeth.
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