BUILDING PLAQUE AND TARTAR
Your teeth and gums are under constant threat from other residents of the oral cavity
As the hardest substance in the human body, with a composition of mostly hardy minerals, a tooth’s outer enamel surface is well equipped to handle wear and tear. This is especially important, as permanent teeth in humans are, as their name entails, intended to be a permanent feature. There are no natural replacements available to us if we lose a tooth. However, food itself is not the only threat to the integrity of our teeth, because our mouths are by no means unoccupied. They are home to hundreds of different bacterial species, together numbering in their billions.
These tiny microorganisms may be invisible to the naked eye, but they can wreak more havoc on our oral health than the largest and toughest piece of food.
Just as great, sturdy mountains are eventually toppled by a multitude of tiny erosions, so too can the hard surface of enamel be eventually worn away by the swarm of bacteria residing in the oral cavity. Bacteria’s primary ability to achieve this erosion is through the formation of plaque. Bacteria feed on the food we eat just as we do, and readily metabolise sources of energy such as sugar and carbohydrates to create harmful acids. This cocktail of compounds and microorganisms can then fuse to form a type of biofilm – colloquially referred to as ‘bacterial cities’ – known as plaque. If left unchecked, plaque can readily harden into a calculus, also known as tartar, which is much more difficult to remove and yet more damaging to teeth and the gumline.
But the human body is not without natural defences designed to mitigate bacterial damage to the oral cavity. After all, for much of human history we have been without the means to properly clean and look after our teeth with dental brushes, toothpaste and flossing tape.
Fortunately, our saliva contains a battery of compounds that help keep bacteria in check. The
“This cocktail of compounds and microorganisms fuses to form a ‘bacterial city’ known as plaque”
amylase enzymes dissolve carbohydrates in the mouth, denying bacteria a bounty from a piece of food lodged between two teeth. Additionally, mucins glycoproteins adhere to bacteria and remove them from surfaces where they can be harmful. However, in many modern societies, saliva alone is not enough to combat bacterial proliferation. Modern diets are laced with carbohydrates and sugars that were considerably more scarce for our huntergatherer ancestors, and the rate of tooth decay has increased as a result. We also produce less saliva when we sleep, because we spend a lot of time not chewing during the night, and this grants near free reign to our mouths’ bacterial inhabitants. A testimony to the increase in bacteria while we sleep is halitosis, or ‘morning breath’, of which unchecked bacterial division is the primary cause. For many leading today’s lifestyle, it’s important that we regularly brush and floss to remove food debris and plaque before the latter hardens into calculus – especially before bed.