Time for coffee and tea....not really

I did a little experiment today. As exam's round the corner, I have been overdosing myself with coffee and tea few times a day. 

Today,  I reused the same cup for my coffee/tea, fill it up without washing it prior to that. and,

By the third cup of coffee, my cup appeared like this.

Despite having too much time on my hand,I'm trying to show that coffee and tea do stain our teeth. I visit the dentist twice a year, and since my last scaling in december, and it's only been five months, I found stains on the back of my anterior teeth ( front teeth). This is called extrinsic stains .Extrinsic stains are not localised to one area/tooth only, it's usually generalised and can normally be found in a few teeth. 

Getting a scale and clean regularly would definitely help to remove this unsightly feature.but make sure it's not a GP scale.

*G.P scale- a term coined to describe imperfectly done scale and clean due to time constraint. for your information, dentist normally has allocated limited time for each patient.

Common misconception

Growing up seeing dentures on my grandparents, I actually thought that dentures is a part of ageing ritual. Little did i know that good oral health care regime would actually prevent this from happening.The reason behind teeth exfoliation is due to the loss of supporting tissue around our teeth. With that said, gingiva ( gum in layman's term) and bone are the vital supporting tissue in our teeth. Both contribute strength and support that allow our teeth to bite and chew on a daily basis. 

It's the destruction of gum that predisposes us to teeth mobility, then exfoliation. Destruction of the gum can be done so by the bacteria inhabiting around our teeth. They slowly make their way thru the pockets by causing inflammation, and gradually deepening the pockets as time goes by. This phenomenon is called gingivitis.  and in a more severe scenario, periodontitis if loss of bone is involved .

Periodontal pockets are normally measured by the dentist on your first visit, whereby a periodontal probe is inserted into six surfaces of each tooth, and measurements are obtained

                                     

 periodontal probes

Prominent clinical sign of gingivitis is bleeding,reddening and swelling of gum. so by virtual fact, there's really nothing more important then taking care of the gums and make sure that it's in pristine condition at all times. Pristine condition generally means, periodontal pockets of less than 3mm. 

Flossing is the way to go about this, as it helps removes the stubborn plaque retained in the space between the teeth and gum. Adequate removal of the plaque prevents us from gum destruction done so by the inhabitating bacteria. It seems pretty easy and mundane, but you'll be surprised how many people actually consider flossing as part of their oral hygiene regime.