IT is a scientific fact that Christmas is also toothache season. During a session of light banter with a few dental colleagues, two of them disclosed that their first (and worst) toothache was experienced on a Christmas Day. Many may be able to testify to similar experiences. But what is the point here? The point is that there is a distinct relationship between the ingestion of sweet and tooth decay.

During this festive season of Christmas, there will be at least a 10 per cent increase in the incidence of dental caries among Guyanese. The simple reason is because of the higher sucrose (sugar) ingestion combined with the transient neglect in maintaining oral hygiene concomitant with the disruption in routine personal activities.

Cakes, sweets, jellies, chocolates and dried fruits are the most cariogenic (caries producing) foods in existence and they are eaten indiscriminately at this time of the year. Although sugar by itself cannot affect the teeth in any way, the bacteria of dental plaque ferment these substrates (sugars and starches) most readily to produce the acid that erodes the enamel causing tooth decay. It only takes bacteria a matter of seconds to convert sweet to acid.

People have always liked a sweet taste. The ‘sweet tooth’ of primitive man was satisfied by fruits and other sweet parts of plants which were supplied by nature. All over the world people have used honey, a natural sugar concentrate as the source of additional sweetness. In Australia, Cuba, England and the United States of America, each citizen consumes more than 100 pounds of sugar a year, however, in China, the most popular country in the world, less than five pounds of sugar a year is consumed by each citizen. As a result, the Chinese have fewer caries than most.

The modern approach which is designed to circumvent the deleterious potential of sugar on dental well-being is to substitute the carbohydrate with artificial sweeteners. However, universal use of these would result in disarray for countries whose economies depend on sugar cane cultivation. Presently, mainly diabetics use artificial sweeteners. It is academic to note that the scientific community is contemplating whether it is more prudent to develop a vaccine against the Streptococcus mutans, the chief culprit responsible for tooth decay.

So, caries do not result from a nutritional deficiency involving the formation of a dentition which is predisposed to decay. Rather, it is the net result of a variety of local influences in the environment of the teeth involving the biochemical events in dental plaque which follow the intake of each item of the diet.

The high sugar content and the sticky consistency are predominant factors for cariogenicity. Tooth decay also depends on the amount and type of carbohydrate eaten, the food acidity, the length of time between intakes and swallowing, enamel toughness from fluorides and how freely the saliva flows.

What then can be done on an emergency basis if a terrible toothache should strike suddenly? Note that a toothache may strike suddenly but certainly not without prior warning. First, wash out the mouth thoroughly.

Then mix a strong solution of baking soda and water. Flood the affected tooth with the solution as long as possible, changing it. If that does not work, pulverise a clove in a drop of edible oil and place it in the cleaned out, dry cavity. See your dentist at the earliest opportunity. HAVE A HAPPY AND CARIES FREE CHRISTMAS!