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Personal hygiene care consists of proper brushing and flossing daily. The purpose of oral hygiene is to minimize any etiologic agents of disease in the mouth. The primary focus of brushing and flossing is to remove and prevent the formation of plaque. Plaque consists mostly of bacteria. As the amount of bacterial plaque increases, the tooth is more vulnerable to dental caries when carbohydrates in the food are left on teeth after every meal or snack. A toothbrush can be used to remove plaque on accessible surfaces, but not between teeth or inside pits and fissures on chewing surfaces. When used correctly, dental floss removes plaque from areas which could otherwise develop proximal caries. Other adjunct hygiene aids include interdental brushes, water picks, and mouthwashes.

However oral hygiene is probably more effective at preventing gum disease than tooth decay. The brush and fluoride toothpaste have no access inside pits and fissures, where chewing forces food to be trapped. (Occlusal caries accounts for between 80 and 90 percent of caries in children (Weintraub, 2001). The teeth at highest risk for carious lesions are the first and second permanent molars.)

Professional hygiene care consists of regular dental examinations and cleanings. Sometimes, complete plaque removal is difficult, and a dentist or dental hygienist may be needed. Along with oral hygiene, radiographs may be taken at dental visits to detect possible dental caries development in high risk areas of the mouth.

For dental health, frequency of sugar intake is more important than the amount of sugar consumed. In the presence of sugar and other carbohydrates, bacteria in the mouth produce acids which can demineralize enamel, dentin, and cementum. The more frequently teeth are exposed to this environment, the more likely dental caries are to occur. Therefore, minimizing snacking is recommended, since snacking creates a continual supply of nutrition for acid-creating bacteria in the mouth. Also, chewy and sticky foods (such as dried fruit or candy) tend to adhere to teeth longer, and consequently are best eaten as part of a meal. Brushing the teeth after meals is recommended. For children, the American Dental Association and the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry recommend limiting the frequency of consumption of drinks with sugar, and not giving baby bottles to infants during sleep. Mothers are also recommended to avoid sharing utensils and cups with their infants to prevent transferring bacteria from the mother’s mouth.

It has been found that milk and certain kinds of cheese like Cheddar can help counter tooth decay if eaten soon after the consumption of foods potentially harmful to teeth.Also, chewing gum containing xylitol (a sugar alcohol) is widely used to protect teeth in some countries, being especially popular in the Finnish candy industry. Xylitol’s effect on reducing plaque is probably due to bacteria’s inability to utilize it like other sugars.Chewing and stimulation of flavour receptors on the tongue are also known to increase the production and release of saliva, which contains natural buffers to prevent the lowering of pH in the mouth to the point where enamel may become demineralised.

As a parent your number one concern is to keep your kids safe and healthy. To help you achieve your goals there are tips you can use to keep your kids’ teeth health and free from tooth decay. The first tip is to modify the foods and drinks that you give to your kids. You will want to significantly reduce the amount of foods and drinks that contain sugar, as these are the products that are suspected as the leading cause of the increase in childhood cavities.

Nature designed children to have certain nutrient requirments. Our modern diet falls way too short in providing these vitamins from our foods. The best solution is not chemicals or dental surgery, but to prevent cavities, or even heal them, with special foods.

When we feed our children right, they grow strong, have a positive attitude and are intelligent. Good nutrients supports good physical development.

If your child has cavities, it is time to consider how you are taking care of them, and change the root cause of the problem, their diet.

The main cause of tooth decay is not the amount of sugar in the diet, but how often it is eaten or drunk. The more often your child has sugary foods or drinks, the more likely they are to have decay. It is therefore important to keep sugary foods to mealtimes only. If you want to give your child a snack, try to stick to cheese, vegetables and fruit, but not dried fruit.

It is also worth remembering that some processed baby foods contain quite a lot of sugar. Try checking the list of ingredients: the higher up the list sugar is, the more there is in the product. Sometimes, these are shown as fructose, glucose, lactose or sucrose. Thorough brushing twice a day, particularly last thing at night, will help to prevent tooth decay.

Baby bottle tooth decay is a condition that occurs in children between 18 months and 3 years of age because of prolonged exposure of the teeth to milk or juice. Caries (tooth decay) are formed because the milk or juice in the mouth breaks down to lactic acid and cause caries.

Do not put your infant or small child to bed with a bottle of milk, formula, juice, or other product that contains sugar. Sugar and acids in these liquids can cause tooth decay.

In early days, people used to eat sweets very rare. Meals were high in fat, but fairly low in sugar, and the only sugar contain food they took was something like a slice or two of apple pie. In general, tooth decay wasn’t a problem for our ancestry.