Healthy Teeth

We have 20 baby teeth which fall out and get replaced by 32 adult teeth during your childhood and teenage years. Keeping your teeth healthy means that your adult teeth will grow well and stay strong for years. This means eating well and avoiding cavities by brushing and flossing your teeth every day.

Calcium

The hard outer surface of our teeth is made of tooth enamel.  Enamel gets its hardness from very strong minerals like calcium, just like bones do.  Our teeth need lots of calcium to be healthy and strong.  Drinking milk and eating other dairy products like cheese is the best way to get the calcium you need to keep your teeth strong.

Cavities

Holes in the teeth, called “cavities” or “tooth decay”, are caused by bacteria.  Dentists can fill in the holes with fillings, but it’s much better to prevent tooth decay by brushing your teeth regularly with fluoride toothpaste and flossing your teeth every day.

Fluoride

Fluoride is a mineral that makes teeth strong, just like calcium.  It also protects the teeth against acid attack from the bacteria that cause cavities.  You only need tiny amounts of fluoride to keep your teeth strong. The best way to get it is by using fluoride toothpaste.

Flossing and Brushing

You should brush and floss your teeth every day to keep your teeth healthy and your breath fresh.  Brushing and flossing remove a thin sticky film of bacteria called plaque that grows on your teeth.  Plaque is the main form of tooth decay and gum disease.  The plaque bacteria help to turn the food you eat into acids that attack your teeth.  Brushing and flossing is the best way to get rid of plaque and protect your teeth from acid attack.

Brushing

1. Brush for about 3 minutes twice a day.

2. Move the brush back and forth (gently) in short tooth-wide strokes.

3. Brush outside, inside and on top of your teeth.

4. Clean the inside of your teeth with a gentle up and down stroke.

Flossing

1. Use about 18 inches of floss and wind most of it around your middle fingers.

2. Hold the floss tightly between your thumbs and forefingers. Guide the floss between your teeth using a gentle rubbing motion.

3. Hold the floss tightly around the tooth.  Gently rub the side of the tooth, moving the floss away form the gum with an up and down motion.

Tooth First Aid

If a baby tooth is knocked out, don’t worry.  Save it and get some money from the tooth fairy.  If one of your permanent (adult) teeth is knocked out, here’s what to do.

1. Hold the tooth by its crown (the top) and not by the root (the bottom part that goes into your gums).

2. Wash the tooth in cold water for a few seconds. Don’t rub, scrub or use cleaners on it as this will kill the delicate tooth cells.

3. If you can, put the tooth back in its socket.  If you can’t do this, put the tooth in a glass of milk or cold water.  If you don’t have any clean water around, put the tooth in your mouth (but don’t swallow it!)

4. Get to the dentist straight away and he or she should be able to save your tooth.

If part of a tooth gets broken off (this usually happens to your front teeth), try and find the broken bit and get it to a dentist as soon as possible.  The dentist might be able to stick the tooth back together if they get it quickly.

Baby Teeth

You have 20 baby teeth (called deciduous teeth) that grew before you had any permanent adult teeth.  Some babies are born with teeth, but mostly they appear in the first few months. Children lose their first teeth at around 5 or 6 years when their first adult teeth appear. By 12 or 13 years of age, you have all of your adult teeth.  Once you lose them you need false teeth!