Dr. Carla Cyrino, a dentist at Cornerstone Clinic, joins Maria Botros on this week’s episode of the Tell Me Why podcast to discuss dental hygiene and reveal the top causes of cavities.
Dr. Carla: The most important thing is for people to brush their teeth with soft bristle toothbrushes
I know we've been told to brush our teeth twice a day, but I would advise brushing them 3-4 times a day, says Dr. Carla
Dr. Carla: There is no such thing as 'overbrushing' your teeth if you are brushing them correctly
People don't need to apply pressure when they brush their teeth, they need to be gentle as if they're cleaning pearls, says Dr. Carla
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Dr. Carla: The most important thing is for people to brush their teeth with soft bristle toothbrushes
I know we've been told to brush our teeth twice a day, but I would advise brushing them 3-4 times a day, says Dr. Carla
Dr. Carla: There is no such thing as 'overbrushing' your teeth if you are brushing them correctly
People don't need to apply pressure when they brush their teeth, they need to be gentle as if they're cleaning pearls, says Dr. Carla
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
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NewsTranscript
00:00Use the most important, soft-bristled toothbrush.
00:06People use medium and hard, and they think they are clean,
00:12going to be cleaner than the soft one, but just no.
00:16We don't clean a car with the hard brush.
00:21Right.
00:22With the hard brush, because what's going to happen to the car?
00:26Scrape it.
00:27Exactly.
00:28The teeth, they are the same.
00:43All right, all right, we are back in the studio with Dr. Carla Serino,
00:47who's a dentist at Cornerstone Clinic.
00:50Dr. Carla, I'm so happy to have you in the studio,
00:53because today we're going to talk about dental health.
00:56I think this is a topic that a lot of people,
00:59or this is an aspect in our health that a lot of people neglect.
01:04They don't know the implications that bad dental health
01:09could have on your overall health,
01:11and they don't know the implications down the line
01:14of not taking proper care of your dental and your oral health.
01:19I'm very happy you're with us in the studio.
01:21We're going to ask you so many questions.
01:23Okay.
01:24Are you ready?
01:25Yeah, I'm ready.
01:26All right, we're going to start with the basics.
01:28How many times should people brush their teeth, and when?
01:32I always say three to four times.
01:34Oh, wow.
01:35Yes.
01:36That's different than what we've heard.
01:38Yes, I know everywhere you read it's twice a day only.
01:43It's too long if you brush only twice.
01:45You leave the plaque in your teeth for many hours, and then you brush.
01:51I always recommend three to four times.
01:54Okay.
01:55I personally brush four to five times.
01:59Oh, wow.
02:00Yes.
02:01Okay.
02:02I never had decay.
02:03Never?
02:04No.
02:05My son didn't have decay when he was a kid, and now he's 30 years old,
02:12zero decay.
02:14What?
02:15This means the proper oral hygiene makes a lot of difference,
02:23and I believe two times, twice is nothing, you know?
02:29Yeah.
02:30What I do, my morning routine, I start in the morning with my better oral
02:37hygiene.
02:38What do I do?
02:39First thing, I wake up and do a tongue scraper.
02:44Okay.
02:45With copper tongue scraper.
02:48Then I do oil pulling.
02:50Okay.
02:52I don't know if you heard about it.
02:53No, never.
02:54Yeah.
02:55It's very, very good.
02:56It's a natural way to remove the bad bacteria inside your mouth.
03:01Okay.
03:02How you do, you put one spoon of coconut oil inside your mouth,
03:07and you move this coconut oil, extra virgin, organic, for around 10,
03:1415 minutes.
03:15In your mouth?
03:16In your mouth.
03:17Wow.
03:18You spit, and then you floss and brush.
03:22Wow.
03:23I do this every morning.
03:25And you say the coconut oil in your mouth for 10 to 15 minutes?
03:3010 to 15 minutes.
03:31Wow.
03:32Move around the coconut oil.
03:35You're going to see after we spit the coconut oil on the paper,
03:39and you see your mouth is clean,
03:44and then you floss to clean between the tooth, and then you brush.
03:51Make all this first thing in the morning.
03:54You start your day with less bad bacteria in your mouth.
04:00Then I drink half a liter of water to clean all my organs,
04:05the system, and start to work.
04:07I'm in shock, to be honest.
04:09I know.
04:10Because I feel like we've been told misinformation our whole life.
04:13We were told once, maybe twice a day,
04:16because you don't want to ruin the enamel of the teeth.
04:23We always heard that myth.
04:25But is there such a thing as overbrushing?
04:27Because so many people have said there is such a thing as overbrushing your teeth
04:32and removing layers from your actual tooth.
04:36Is that true?
04:38No.
04:39You never can overbrush your teeth if you are brushing correctly.
04:45Okay.
04:46Okay?
04:47Okay.
04:48Of course, you need to use a soft toothbrush, and no pressure,
04:54because it's not the pressure.
04:56It's the technique.
04:58And the soft toothbrush is going to clean properly your teeth.
05:02Don't need to rush.
05:03You need to be gentle with your teeth,
05:06like you're cleaning your pearls, you know?
05:09Oh, nice.
05:10It's nice.
05:11And take time.
05:12People are so rush, and it has like 30 seconds to brush your teeth.
05:18No, take two minutes, three minutes, floss, brush, clean your tongue.
05:26It's very important to clean your tongue.
05:29Yeah, I don't think a lot of people know that.
05:31No, no, no.
05:33We keep a lot of bacteria there.
05:35And what do you use to clean your tongue?
05:37Tongue scraper.
05:38Okay.
05:39Cooper tongue scraper.
05:40Okay.
05:41It has to be copper.
05:42Yes.
05:43That's the best one.
05:44I prefer, because it's antimicrobial, antibacterial.
05:48Of course, after a while, they're going to start a little bit oxidate,
05:52because it's copper, yeah?
05:54But it's very good.
05:56Take all the bad bacteria, but leave the good ones.
06:00We need the good ones.
06:01There was a dentist that once told me,
06:04no matter how many times you brush your teeth
06:06or how, like, diligent you are with flossing or whatever,
06:11you're still going to face cavities,
06:13because there are certain things that you can't reach.
06:15Yes, but you need to see why you are.
06:17If you have a good hygienic, brush your teeth three, four times a day,
06:25and look after yourself, watch your nutrition,
06:31and you still have decays,
06:34you need to see the level of vitamins, for example.
06:38You need to test your minerals, vitamins.
06:41Vitamin D is very important to protect the surface of the tooth.
06:46Oh, interesting.
06:48And a lot of us are deficient in vitamin D.
06:50Many people.
06:51It's amazing.
06:52They sunshine it every single day.
06:55Yes.
06:56And many people here have low vitamin D.
07:01Yes, yes, absolutely.
07:02Because we maybe don't go to sunshine.
07:04Even me, I always sun, because I love sun.
07:08But I take vitamin D every day.
07:11Of course, yes.
07:12I mean, I was like that too,
07:13and I was still prescribed vitamin D to take as a supplement.
07:17So to take that a step further, what are causes of cavities?
07:21So you were saying nutrition, you were saying vitamin deficiencies,
07:25but what are other causes of cavities?
07:28In my opinion, what I've seen for 30 years,
07:31I've been a dentist for 30 years.
07:33Wow, yeah.
07:34And what I see is many times is the bad hygiene.
07:40People don't use dental floss.
07:43People do like brush once or twice a day.
07:47It's too long.
07:50After two hours, we have a red plaque.
07:54The plaque has made acid,
07:57and this acid goes corrosion,
08:01going to destroy the surface of the tooth.
08:04And of course, then it became decay.
08:07Yeah.
08:08You know, and can have dental erosion.
08:12Many problems can bring if you don't,
08:16everything starts with the hygiene.
08:19And I always say your health starts in your mouth.
08:23Always, because everything you're going to drink,
08:27any liquid you're going to eat,
08:29everything is in your mouth.
08:31Then go for your stomach, go for your gut, everything.
08:34But your health starts in your mouth.
08:36If you live many hours and no clean,
08:41it's going to have a problem.
08:44How should a person brush their teeth properly?
08:48You said take your time.
08:50Now, what I see, because I see children,
08:54I have patients, kids, adults, and the seniors as well.
08:58I mean, general dentist and cosmetic,
09:02but always with the holistic approach.
09:05What I see sometimes, I say always to the kids,
09:08bring the toothbrush and toothpaste,
09:11and I want to see how they clean.
09:14Of course, it's difficult to say this for adults,
09:17but I explain sometimes.
09:19I don't mind.
09:20I mean, if that was said to me, I would do it.
09:22Yeah.
09:23But I see that, you know, it's just very,
09:26and it's pressure the tooth.
09:28It's not the pressure, just use, make the movement.
09:32Use the most important, soft bristle toothbrush.
09:37People using medium and hard,
09:40and they think they are clean,
09:43going to be cleaner than the soft one, but it's not.
09:47We don't clean a car with the hard brush.
09:52Right.
09:53With the hard brush, because what's going to happen to the car?
09:58Scrape it.
09:59Exactly.
10:00The teeth, they are the same.
10:02I love that.
10:03I feel like it makes so much sense,
10:06and it's like common sense, but we just never realized it.
10:10No.
10:11So then what causes teeth sensitivity then,
10:14if it's not a cavity sensitivity?
10:16Brush too hard.
10:18Also.
10:19Wow.
10:20I mean, I feel like that's going to be the answer to everything now.
10:23Yeah.
10:24Everything, everything is a hygiene, properly.
10:27If you brush too hard, if you don't use a soft bristle toothbrush,
10:33you're going to push the gum up,
10:37and the push will go lower,
10:39and then you're going to expose the root.
10:42When you have the root exposed, you have sensitivity,
10:46because the root is supposed to be inside,
10:49protect with the gum.
10:51Yes.
10:52But why is this?
10:53Because you brush too hard,
10:55or in some cases, the position of the teeth is like a twist a little bit,
11:02and it came a little bit out of the bone.
11:06You know?
11:07What causes this sensitivity, people do a bruchism.
11:13Bruchism is grinding the teeth when you're sleeping.
11:16And this takes the surface of the tooth
11:20and became more sensitive because have dentin exposed,
11:25acid foods, too much lemons, orange.
11:29Really?
11:30It eats away on the tooth.
11:32It make more sensitive.
11:34Okay.
11:35Okay, so we know that the average human has 28 to 32 teeth.
11:40I mean, depending on whether they remove their wisdom teeth.
11:42But why is it that some people actually can grow their wisdom teeth
11:46and live with them, and some people can't?
11:50Some people don't have space to come the wisdom tooth, or certain molar.
11:57Okay.
11:58Don't have space there.
11:59And then the tooth stay intact there.
12:03Many adults still don't have the wisdom tooth.
12:06It's still there inside the bone.
12:08Right.
12:09But it's always, I say, it's good to check sometimes
12:12to see if the tooth is moving,
12:15or if the tooth is inside the bone damaging,
12:20are damaging the second molar.
12:23Right.
12:24Because even they are inside, they can perforate the tooth,
12:29and the second molar has cavity.
12:33Yes.
12:34You know, and then this case needs to take the wisdom tooth.
12:37I have two, for example.
12:40I have this side, but this side I took away
12:42because I had problem because didn't have much space there.
12:47Right, right.
12:48When don't have space, need to take out.
12:51Yeah, yeah.
12:52And they pressure, you know, to come in,
12:55and don't have space, you need to take out.
12:58Many cases, for example, before to do the treatment orthodontics,
13:04normally we take out the wisdom tooth
13:07because you need to move the old teeth to put a perfect occlusion,
13:13the perfect bite,
13:15and then normally before the treatment, orthodontic treatment,
13:19we take the wisdom tooth.
13:21Yeah.
13:22I remember I removed them as well because one of them,
13:25the root, the nerve was passing through the root,
13:28and it was causing me too much pain,
13:31and there wasn't enough space, which was one of the major points,
13:35and my dentist was saying it was going to ruin my alignment as well.
13:39Why are they called wisdom teeth?
13:41Do you know by any chance?
13:42Or third molars?
13:43I know that that's a…
13:44Yeah.
13:45But why wisdom teeth?
13:46Yeah, wisdom teeth because it came later.
13:49Ah, so you get wiser.
13:51People are wiser than a child, you know?
13:54Okay.
13:55It came later.
13:56Going back to brushing teeth, what about electric brushes?
13:59There was always that hype with,
14:02oh, these are so much better for you because, you know,
14:04the circular movement and the motion of it
14:07and the fact that it can reach, you know,
14:10areas that you can't usually reach by manually brushing.
14:14What do you think of that?
14:15What is your take on them?
14:17I like very much.
14:18Okay, so you're for them.
14:19Yes.
14:20I use the electric toothbrush.
14:21Okay.
14:22If you use manual, it's no problem,
14:25but the head, the toothbrush needs to be small.
14:28Okay.
14:29If you see a very big head,
14:31how are you going to clean the second molar?
14:34And if the person has the wisdom teeth there,
14:37how is it going to clean with the big head?
14:40It's impossible.
14:41Yeah?
14:42Better use a small head, soft bristle, always.
14:48Okay, soft bristle.
14:49We know that now.
14:50Okay.
14:51And electric, I like because you do this movement circular.
14:54You just, what you need to do, just move.
14:57Yeah?
14:58No pressure.
14:59And many ones now has a smart toothbrush.
15:04And if you press a little bit more,
15:06comes this light in the toothbrush.
15:09Oh, wow.
15:10To show you, for you to put less pressure.
15:12Okay.
15:13But the most important is to use properly.
15:16Yes.
15:17Yeah?
15:18And change the manual toothbrush
15:21or the head of the electric toothbrush
15:24every two, maximum three months.
15:27So you shouldn't be using the same toothbrush
15:29for more than two to three months.
15:30No.
15:31Always watch your toothbrush.
15:35If it's flat or if it starts open a little bit,
15:39it's because you put too much pressure.
15:41Pressure, yeah.