Did You Know The Most Common Dental Myths You Follow Every Day Are Hurting Your Smile?

This friendly popular science piece sorts out widely misunderstood dental facts to help you maintain excellent oral health without extra complicated work or high cost.

Most people have formed fixed oral care habits that they stick to for decades, and many of these habits are built on widespread myths that do far more harm than good. A 2023 public oral health survey across 12 countries found that nearly 68 percent of respondents believe brushing teeth as hard and as long as possible can get rid of all hidden food residues, so they rub their teeth with hard bristles for more than five minutes every morning, even forcing themselves to keep brushing until their gums bleed. What most people do not know is that the outermost enamel layer of the tooth has no living cells or self-repairing ability, and excessive friction will wear away the translucent protective layer little by little, exposing the light yellow dentin under it. Once this layer of dentin is exposed, you will feel obvious soreness when you drink iced coffee or eat sweet fruits, and the worn gaps are more likely to accumulate plaque and breed new tooth decay that is hard to clean. Many people only realize this problem when their teeth become extra sensitive after a few years, and the lost enamel can never grow back no matter what kind of care products they buy later.

Another super common myth that traps millions of young people is that you can brush your teeth immediately after eating sweets or drinking sugary drinks to avoid tooth decay. In fact, the sugar remaining in the oral cavity will be decomposed by resident bacteria into weak acid within 10 to 15 minutes after you finish eating, and this weak acid will temporarily soften the surface structure of the enamel. If you brush your teeth hard at this time, you will directly scrape off a large amount of softened enamel tissue, causing irreversible acid etching damage. Even many people who think they are pursuing a healthy lifestyle are unaware that sugar-free sparkling water, fruit vinegar drinks and low-sugar iced lemon tea all have a pH value lower than 5.5, which is the threshold that will cause enamel corrosion. A large number of young people who drink a bottle of sparkling water every day will find that their front teeth have small rough pits that they never noticed before when they go for a routine dental check-up, and these pits are the early signs of permanent enamel damage.

There are also a lot of tiny daily habits that most people never associate with dental damage, and these habits are the top causes of hidden dental problems that are not found until it is too late. Many people habitually use their teeth to open beverage caps, tear off adhesive tape on express packages, bite off the extra part of price tags, or chew the plastic cap of their ballpoint pen when they are thinking at work. Data from the American Dental Association shows that nearly 40 percent of patients who come for treatment of cracked teeth have these seemingly trivial habits, and early tiny cracks on teeth have no obvious symptoms at all, until the cracks spread to the vicinity of the dental pulp, you will start to feel sharp pain when chewing, and at that time you can no longer solve the problem with simple filling. A lot of people also grind their teeth unconsciously when they sleep at night, and they never notice this behavior themselves, only feeling that their masseter muscles are sore or their temples are throbbing when they wake up in the morning. Many of these patients spent months checking their neurology department and got no clear diagnosis, until their dentist pointed out that the flattened occlusal surface of their back teeth was caused by years of night grinding.

The good news is that most oral health problems can be easily prevented with a few low-cost, simple daily adjustments, without you having to buy expensive fancy dental care products that are advertised on social media. The most cost-effective choice for daily brushing is a soft-bristled toothbrush with medium hardness, you only need to make gentle circular movements along the junction of teeth and gums, and two minutes of brushing time is enough to clean all tooth surfaces thoroughly. After you drink acidic beverages or eat sour food, you can rinse your mouth with warm water or light salt water for a few times to wash away all the acidic residues in your mouth, and wait for at least 30 minutes before brushing your teeth. It is enough to use dental floss once a day to clean the gaps between teeth where the toothbrush cannot reach, and there is no need to use hard wooden toothpicks frequently that will easily scratch the gums and widen the gaps between teeth. You only need to go to the dentist for a professional cleaning once every six months, and too frequent deep cleaning will cause unnecessary irritation to your gum tissue.

It is completely normal to feel nervous before visiting the dentist, but you do not have to be scared away by the long-term wrong rumors that say teeth cleaning will make your teeth loose or hurt permanently. Most people who feel loose teeth after tooth cleaning actually have had tartar attached around their gums for many years, the tartar used to cover up the original gaps between teeth and the inflamed gum recession, and after the tartar is removed, the exposed gaps are what the real state of your periodontal tissue has been. If you can find tiny tooth decay spots before you feel obvious pain, the whole treatment process is only a simple filling that takes 15 minutes at most, which is far less painful and costly than doing root canal treatment when the decay spreads to the pulp. When you get rid of those wrong daily habits that hurt your teeth unconsciously, you will find that keeping a set of healthy teeth that can accompany you through your whole life is far easier than most people imagine.