Diagnosed With Weakened Enamel? 4 Tips To Protect Your Teeth From Dental Problems

19 January 2018
 Categories: Dentist, Blog

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If your dentist has diagnosed you with weak enamel, it's important that you take proper care of your teeth. Weak enamel leaves you at risk for dental problems, including cracks. Once you have a cracked tooth, you'll need to have it repaired as soon as possible. Without that immediate care, decay can develop, which can lead to the need for a root canal. To help you protect your teeth, and avoid root canals, are four teeth care steps you should take if you have weak enamel.

Stay Away from the Hard Candies

When you have weak enamel, you should stay away from all hard candies, especially if you have the habit of biting down on them. Biting down on a hard candy can cause small cracks to develop in the enamel of your teeth. Even if the cracks aren't noticeable, they're big enough to cause damage. One way they cause damage is to create spaces for sugar and bacteria to hide. Once inside, sugar and bacteria will destroy your teeth from the inside out.

Take Care with the Crunchy Fruits and Vegetables too

Fresh fruits and vegetables are part of a healthy diet. Unfortunately, fresh fruits and vegetables that are crunchy are not healthy for teeth that are suffering from weak enamel. In fact, as far as the cracks go, crunchy fruits and vegetables can have the same damaging effects as hard candy. Biting down on carrots, apples, celery, or even fresh broccoli, can crack the enamel on your teeth. If you've got weakened enamel on your teeth, take care when biting down on crunchy fruits and vegetables.

Steer Clear of Sugary Drinks

If you've got weakened enamel, it's important that you steer clear of sugary drinks. You may have small cracks in the enamel that you're not aware of. Unfortunately, the more sugary drinks you consume, the greater risk you have of developing tooth decay in those small cracks. Without proper treatment, that decay could lead to severe damage that will require root canals to repair. You can avoid that problem by eliminating sugary drinks from your diet.

Protect Your Teeth from Nighttime Grinding

When you suffer from weakened enamel, grinding your teeth can cause serious problems. Not only can grinding your teeth lead to the development of cracks, it can also wear away the enamel on the edges of your teeth. Once too much of the enamel has been worn away, the dentin can be exposed, which can lead to pain, tooth sensitivity, and decay. Protect your teeth from the damages of nighttime grinding by wearing a protective mouth guard when you sleep.