A dental health practitioner has warned people that frequent intake of coffee could lead to dental cavities.
According to Naphtali Macharia, if one takes coffee he or she should rinse their mouth with water to ensure that it does not embed itself into the enamel spaces.
In an interview on Citizen TV on Wednesday, Dr Macharia said the major cause of cavities is the excessive consumption of sugar.
“High intake of sugar is the leading cause of dental caries… There are some bacteria in the mouth, the bacteria act on the sugar and breaks it down and it releases some acid then the acid breaks down the tooth causing a hole,” Macharia said.
Macharia said the most common dental problems include dental caries (dental cavity), periodontal disease (gum disease) and dental fluorosis (brown stained teeth).
“The major cause of dental fluorosis is a high percentage of fluoride in water. The amount of fluoride that is helpful to the teeth is 0.5-1 ppm but when it’s more than 1.5 ppm, it damages the teeth,” Macharia said.
PPM stands for parts per million and is the US standard unit of measurement in water chemistry. It shows the density of a given substance dissolved in water.
He urged parents to assist their children in brushing their teeth to ensure that they do it correctly.
Further, Macharia said dentists are currently doing the refilling of the root canal treatment which can be done in two to three days.
He said dentists have embraced the new technology hence they refill teeth in one appointment if there is no infection.
“We used to use silver fillings but we are trying to stop the use of it because of mercury toxicity. We are using composites (white filling) which are good and equally strong,” Macharia said.
He said a refilled tooth can be used for over 20 years though it is not strong hence care must be taken care of.
