Find a mirror and take a good look at yourself. Now, smile. A beautiful, healthy smile is meant to last a lifetime—and it can if you form good health habits while you are young. The small amount of time you spend daily on dental hygiene is an important investment in your future health, because healthy teeth and gums are necessary for good nutrition and thus are essential for good health, Purpose of teeth Besides improving your personal appearance, your teeth also aid in clear speech, Do you remember when you were missing your primary incisors (front teeth)? You probably had difficulty saying such words as safety and sorry distinctly, because your teeth help you make the sound of s, z, f; th, and j, Say “thank you.” Where do you feel your teeth when you make the th sound? Now, say “father.” ‘What two sounds in this word do your teeth help you make? Another important function of the teeth is to prepare food for digestion. The different types of teeth cut, tear, grind, and crish solid food into tiny pieces. If the food is chewed well, saliva, a digestive juice in the mouth, mixes with it easily. Saliva begins the digestion of some foods. Saliva also moistens the food, making it easy to swallow. AWinning Smile 51 Escaneado con CamScannerStructure of a tooth A tooth’s structure Enamel covers the crown o! the part of a tooth that can be the gum line, The enamel, which is the wa hardest substance 1 your body, protects the woth from being worn away from the pressures of cutting, tearing, crushing, and grinding food, ‘The dentin is a hard, bonelike tissue which forms and shapes the tooth, The pulp, the inner part of a tooth, contains nerves and blood vessels which enter the tooth through an open- ing at the tip of the root. A thin covering over the root, the cementum, holds the tooth firmly together. The periodontal (pér @-9-dén/t'l] membrane is a layer of tissue between the cementum and the jaw- bone which connects the root of a tooth to the jawbone. enamel crown —| dentin ‘pulp periodontal membrane cementum 1 incisor 2 cuspid cutting tearing adult teeth 3 bicuspid 4 molar “1p, (premolar) ee \ \ crushing grinding 52 Developing Good Health Escaneado con CamScannerThe plaque attack ete eetack © The teth are one of the most durable Parts of the body; however vour teeth are Under continual attack, snd thus they ana not be healthy, Some 200 to 800 di Kinds of helptal and harmtul bacte invour mouth, Plague [plik], a sticky, colortess film of harmful bacteria, is con- stantly forming on and between your teeth, When sugar mixes with the plaque, tooth decay begins. Every time you eat something, plaque breaks down sugar in your mouth and changes the sugar to acid; the sticky plaque then keeps the acid on the surface of your teeth. Once the acid forms, it attacks the enamel on your teeth for about twenty minutes. After many acid attacks, the enamel is broken down, resulting in dental caries (com- monly called cavities). To help you understand the harm caused by an acid attack, place an un- cooked egg in a clear glass and add enough vinegar (a mild acid) to cover the egg. After the egg soaks for six hours, ob- serve what happens to the eggshell. Can the eggshell still protect the egg? \ on \ -) Wr 2 ¢ Repeated acid attacks Sucrose, glucose, maltose, dextrose, lactose, fructose, corn sweeteners, natural sweeteners, molasses, and honey are all forms of sugar Most sugars—natural sugars or added sugars—mix with plaque and cause acid to form, Itis not just how much sugar you eat that causes dental caries, however. How often you eat sugar and how long the sugar remains in your mouth also aid in the decay process. Fach time you eat sugarrich foods, acid forms on your teeth. Thus, the more times you eat sugar-rich foods, the more times your teeth are attacked by acid. If you eat sweet foods between meals, you increase the number of acid attacks, and you increase the amount of acid in your mouth. When sugarrich foods are eaten at mealtimes, the saliva, which is flowing readily by the end of a meal, helps to neu- walize the acid. Quick Checkup 1. Define these terms. a.saliva b, enamel c.dentin d. plaque 2. What part of the tooth contains nerves and blood vessels? 3. What covers the root of the tooth? 4. What connects the root of a tooth to the jawbone? 5. What is sugar changed to when itis broken down by plaque? 6. When is the best time to eat sugarrich foods? 7. What is another name for tooth decay? AWinning Smile 53 Escaneado con CamScanner