
When you steadily snack or sip sugary drinks, you give mouth bacteria more fuel to produce acids that attack your teeth and wear them down.


Foods that cling to your teeth for a long time - such as milk, ice cream, honey, sugar, soda, dried fruit, cake, cookies, hard candy and mints, dry cereal, and chips - are more likely to cause decay than foods that are easily washed away by saliva. As a result, they're harder to keep clean than your smoother, easy-to-reach front teeth. These teeth have lots of grooves, pits and crannies, and multiple roots that can collect food particles. Decay most often occurs in your back teeth (molars and premolars). Discomfort can even extend outside of the tooth root to the bone.Įveryone who has teeth is at risk of getting cavities, but the following factors can increase risk: Because there is no place for the swelling to expand inside of a tooth, the nerve becomes pressed, causing pain. The pulp becomes swollen and irritated from the bacteria. As tooth decay develops, the bacteria and acid continue their march through your teeth, moving next to the inner tooth material (pulp) that contains nerves and blood vessels. Dentin has tiny tubes that directly communicate with the nerve of the tooth causing sensitivity. This layer is softer than enamel and less resistant to acid. Once areas of enamel are worn away, the bacteria and acid can reach the next layer of your teeth, called dentin. This erosion causes tiny openings or holes in the enamel - the first stage of cavities. The acids in plaque remove minerals in your tooth's hard, outer enamel.

Tartar makes plaque more difficult to remove and creates a shield for bacteria. Plaque that stays on your teeth can harden under or above your gum line into tartar (calculus). When sugars and starches aren't cleaned off your teeth, bacteria quickly begin feeding on them and form plaque. It's due to eating a lot of sugars and starches and not cleaning your teeth well. Dental plaque is a clear sticky film that coats your teeth. Cavities are caused by tooth decay - a process that occurs over time.
