02-19-2004, 01:52 AM
well the main point of brushing your teeth is to remove plaque which causes several problems, but the main reason is just to make them pretty to look at.
Plaque in itself doesn't directly harm the teeth, but it can trap chemicals that will hurt your teeth under it. You do realise what your mouth is constantly filled with? Your Saliva aids in the breaking down of food particles, so that means it is a mild acidic chemical. Now if you drink sodas you increase the acidic amount in your mouth causing increased erosion of your teeth. Interestingly enough the erosion of teeth is a natural thing, just as the erosion of the body itself.
So brushing your teeth is simply to clean them and help slow the erosion. Too bad we aren't like the shark and can grow new teeth as needed. But no matter how well you take care of your teeth they will eventually erode... you might be dead before that happens but it will happen.
As for Brushing more than once, that is a debatable position, first you must look at how we clean something. When you bleach a cotton shirt, you are literally weakening the cotton so that the stained cotton material can be easily removed... so too much bleaching of a cotton shirt will basically wear it out prematurely. Brushing your teeth may be the same way, brushing too much may actually be increasing the speed of erosion... but eh it's debatable and not really tested. Personally once per day, plus flossing and mouth wash is probably enough to take care of the night's and previous days plaque build up.
I do know that eating certain things (crunching ice cubes or other hard things) can destroy the enamel that protects the inner part of the tooth. Our teeth are only hardened on the outside, and not very deeply, the inner core contains a nerve and a softer core material comparable to bone marrow.
Now this is what I have learned from my own interesting dental experiences... you tend to do a ton of research when something directly affects you.
Plaque in itself doesn't directly harm the teeth, but it can trap chemicals that will hurt your teeth under it. You do realise what your mouth is constantly filled with? Your Saliva aids in the breaking down of food particles, so that means it is a mild acidic chemical. Now if you drink sodas you increase the acidic amount in your mouth causing increased erosion of your teeth. Interestingly enough the erosion of teeth is a natural thing, just as the erosion of the body itself.
So brushing your teeth is simply to clean them and help slow the erosion. Too bad we aren't like the shark and can grow new teeth as needed. But no matter how well you take care of your teeth they will eventually erode... you might be dead before that happens but it will happen.
As for Brushing more than once, that is a debatable position, first you must look at how we clean something. When you bleach a cotton shirt, you are literally weakening the cotton so that the stained cotton material can be easily removed... so too much bleaching of a cotton shirt will basically wear it out prematurely. Brushing your teeth may be the same way, brushing too much may actually be increasing the speed of erosion... but eh it's debatable and not really tested. Personally once per day, plus flossing and mouth wash is probably enough to take care of the night's and previous days plaque build up.
I do know that eating certain things (crunching ice cubes or other hard things) can destroy the enamel that protects the inner part of the tooth. Our teeth are only hardened on the outside, and not very deeply, the inner core contains a nerve and a softer core material comparable to bone marrow.
Now this is what I have learned from my own interesting dental experiences... you tend to do a ton of research when something directly affects you.