Reasons why teeth are crumbling and what to do about it

In some people, the tooth tissue becomes so weak that it begins to crumble into pieces. The teeth can crumble for various reasons, so the dentist, and sometimes other highly specialized doctors - an immunologist, allergist, and rheumatologist should decide what to do in each individual case. In most cases, a crumbling crown can be saved., but it’s better not to allow such a problem, and for this you should clearly understand what processes occur in the dentition and why.

Reasons why teeth crumble in an adult

The teeth crumble due to damage to the outermost, hardest layer - enamel. If this shell does not cope with the load and collapses, the internal tissues begin to deteriorate. Such a process is triggered by many factors:

• Non-compliance with oral hygiene, causing a massive accumulation of plaque and the growth of bacteria. They secrete substances that can destroy the structure of enamel.
• Inadequate and unbalanced nutrition, which leads to a lack of vitamin D and deficiency of elements important for the formation of dental tissue - calcium, phosphorus. Sweets and food combinations with a large temperature difference (coffee with ice cream) cause enamel to be especially harmful.
• Mechanical damage that a person inflicts due to bad habits or bruxism - involuntary grinding of teeth. More often, the teeth crumble, break off and break at those who open the bottles with them, gnaw nuts.

• Hormonal imbalance that occurs against the background of endocrinological diseases, during puberty, during pregnancy and menopause. An increased or decreased concentration of hormones in the blood can contribute to acidification of saliva, because of which it loses its protective properties - this leads to the loss of enamel.
• Metabolic disorders in case of metabolic failure, diabetes mellitus, thyroid dysfunction.
• Connective tissue diseases - arthritis, osteoporosis, rheumatism.
• Severe allergic reactions.
• Poor heredity and congenital malformations of the jaw.
• The use of low-quality water.
• Poorly installed seals.
• Age-related changes.

Causes of decay of deciduous teeth in children

Milk teeth do not last long and usually fall out whole, in good condition. But in some children, the enamel begins to crumble even before the loss of temporary and the formation of molars, to which parents should pay close attention. Enamel destruction leads to:

• Inadequate nutrition of the mother during pregnancy, due to which the dental rudiments form incorrectly.
• Insufficiently nourishing breast milk due to maternal malnutrition during lactation.
• Nutrient deficiency due to improper and untimely administration of complementary foods in addition to breastfeeding.
• The abuse of sweets and sugary sodas.
• A woman's use of antibiotics and other harmful drugs during pregnancy.
• Prolonged use of pacifiers and pacifier bottles.
• The habit of sucking fingers.
• Hereditary predisposition. It can occur if the teeth break or crumble at the parents or close relatives of the baby.

If the teeth are destroyed in childhood, then without eliminating the destructive factors, the enamel enamel will quickly collapse. Without treatment at the dentist, a permanent dentition may not form correctly in a child.

Diagnostic measures

To find out why teeth are crumbled in an adult or baby, and what to do to preserve enamel, you can only in dentistry. The doctor examines the oral cavity, assesses the nature of the damage, collects information about the general condition of the patient and the existing chronic diseases. For accurate diagnosis, the following methods can be used:

• A blood test is also general for biochemistry.
• Blood test for hormone levels.
• Allergy tests.
• X-ray of the jaw.

If, when looking for an answer to the question why teeth are destroyed in an adult patient, the dentist suspects an internal disease, he will send the patient for consultation with the appropriate specialist: endocrinologist, immunologist, therapist, nutritionist.

What to do if teeth crumble

After conducting a diagnosis and identifying factors that cause an adult or child to grind their teeth, appropriate treatment and diet are prescribed. The list of therapeutic measures and procedures depends on the type of identified general disease, if any:

• Prescribing multivitamins and nutritional supplements to patients with vitamin deficiency and micronutrient deficiency.
• Hormone therapy for patients with endocrinological diseases.
• Taking antihistamines for allergic reactions.
• Treatment of chronic connective tissue diseases.

The doctor will definitely advise the patient how best to take care of the oral cavity. While visiting dentistry professional toothbrushing with removal of tartar can be performed, under which the enamel layer collapses more intensively due to the accumulation of bacteria. Carious cavities are cleaned, and a seal is installed in their place.

Steps for installing a light seal

To improve the appearance of damaged teeth with chips, as well as to strengthen brittle enamel, the following procedures are carried out:

• Art restoration by filling.
• Mineralization with application containing calcium and fluorine.
• Enamel coating with fluoride varnish.
• Regular use of toothpastes containing fluoride and calcium.

If the tooth breaks apart or crumbles, the dentist will advise you to do micro prosthetics. With this procedure, the outer surface of the enamel is grinded off, and in its place is placed an overlay - veneer or lumineer. With an even more deplorable state of the teeth, the installation of artificial crowns is recommended.

Veneers

First aid for pain

There are times when tooth enamel collapses gradually and breaks off in small pieces, which may even be invisible to the person himself. But if the tooth crumbles sharply, its internal contents, the pulp in which the nerve is contained, can be exposed. In this case, the person feels a sharp pain, in which it is impossible to sleep or eat.

If a broken tooth hurts a lot, you can drink a painkiller before visiting a dentist. But choosing an analgesic on your own is undesirable, it is better to ask your doctor about this at least by phone.

To avoid clogging of the open pulp, you cannot chew food from the side of the jaw where the tooth has crumbled. To reduce the sensitivity of enamel, you can rinse your mouth with a weak saline solution at room temperature.

Diet with increased fragility of enamel

Nutrition should always be complete - in the human diet must be present a variety of plant and animal food. Harmful dishes with a large number of preservatives, salt, hot spices, as well as alcohol should be eliminated or consumed rarely and in a minimal amount.

But if the tooth enamel is already crumbling, nutritional requirements should be more stringent.It is necessary to find out why teeth break down in adults or children, to recognize the lack of a particular nutrition component:

• If the body lacks calcium, not only the teeth “fall apart”, but also the bone tissue of the skeleton - bone fractures become more frequent. The skin dries and peels, and with severe deficiency, cramps are possible. You can replenish calcium in the body through the use of dairy products, legumes, almonds, sesame seeds.
• A lack of vitamin D complicates the absorption of calcium from food, and in children manifests rickets. To eliminate vitamin deficiency, dairy products, seafood, eggs, vegetable oils are needed. Walking in the sun is useful - at this time the body itself produces a vitamin in the skin.
• If there is not enough phosphorus, numbness in the extremities may develop, irritability appears, and liver dysfunction occurs. Bean, brown bread, seafood, eggs, pumpkin, carrots will help to fill the supply.

If a patient’s teeth not only “crumble”, but his hair also “falls off”, his blood pressure often drops and his breathing quickens, it is likely that he lacks fluoride. It can be found in tap or store drinking water, in black and green tea, seafood, liver, onions.

Teeth can also crumble due to excess fluoride, so people living in regions with a high element content in tap water should not use fluorinated toothpastes.

Preventive actions

Both milk and molar teeth must be protected to maintain the general health of the body, especially since in adults re-change or regeneration of the dentition is not provided for by nature. So that the teeth do not become brittle and do not break off, it is better to carry out preventive measures:

• Brushing the mouth should be regular, using pastes with calcium against crumbling. To fully cleanse the oral cavity from food plaque, you need to clean your tongue, and after eating, it is recommended to clean the interdental spaces with dental floss and rinse your mouth with special solutions or water.
• The brush should not be too stiff; softer bristles should be selected for children and people whose teeth are already "crumbling" or breaking.
• To ensure that the body always lacks the necessary nutrients, you need to eat fully, you can not follow strict diet for weight loss without consulting a nutritionist.
• To improve the metabolism in dental tissues, it is useful to rinse them with herbs and massage the gums with your fingers or brush.
• You should regularly visit the dentist to monitor the condition of the dentition - at least twice a year. If the teeth are already decaying, inspection should be done even more often.
• It is better to abandon the habit of gnawing hard objects and smoking.
• It is better not to accustom children at all to a dummy, or to wean it in time from it. You can not feed the baby for a long time from a bottle with a pacifier.
• Feeding babies should be introduced strictly according to the plan, which is recommended by the pediatrician taking into account the individual characteristics of the baby.

If the teeth began to break off or “crumble”, you can not leave this symptom unattended. Other disorders in the body may follow, so the diagnosis should be timely.