How can I get Cavities ??

Sitting on my chair and about to start my practice for the day, sipping my coffee and wondering what new I would get to learn this beautiful day .. I heard a patient conversing with my assistant outside. My assistant had a habit of posing a dentist herself with all the teeny bits she hears me do to my patients ! She kind of prepares the patients herself that they are going to be in safe hands with " Doctor amma " ( well, though she is 10 years older to me she insists calling me so !!! ) I have a habit of giving away my best smiles to people with pain. I am kind of convinced with the fact that a smile can ease you a lot of your pain. He smiles back gracefully trying hard to hide his frown , sits down and shoots his question How can i have Cavities , Doctor ?? Like it is a constitutional right not have them . I agree , he shouldnt have them probably because he looked a concerned self. I smiled and said I wonder why too ? Maybe I should be able to explain once you are done, I promised ! I brush my teeth twice daily . I dont have the habit of eating sweets / choclates. I infact hate them. I dont understand how I could have got these cavities, he complained !! Looked like he had given up on advices dentist usually did " BRUSH YOUR TEETH TWICE DAILY " . I put him on the examination chair and did a spree of check up. I started talking .. your teeth are very well indeed except that you had
decay ( cavities ) in two teeth. It is wonderful you brush your teeth twice daily. But can I know how many meals you have in a day ? For which he started explaining his schedule to me.. ( We have to be good listeners you see ) Do you rinse your mouth after every meal ? We need to rinse after every meal to just remove the food substances from our teeth which sit on the biting surface of our back teeth especially. If we look carefully we have fine lines on the upper ( biting / occlusal ) surfaces of our back teeth. They are called the " fissures " . Food substances are more prone to settle in this area and it looks like a path between two mountains. Our mouth already has organisms( from the air we breathe etc., ) which does no mess. But when there are food left behind on tooth.. they have a party. The feast on them and in turn release an acid which breaks down the tooth surface causing cracks called " decay " ( cavities ) . He immiedtly cursed all the bacterias for having had a feast at his cost !! He grunted but wont my brushin in the night help ? I said yes it does . But do you brush regularly. He smiled at me again which meant " Keep this secret between us " !! I coudnt help but smile too. I gave him a disposable brush and asked him to show me how he brushed. Ouch ! I could hear the teeth cursing him now ! I asked him whether he was pretending to show me how hard he brushed.. He said this is how I do.. the more hard you brush the more better isn't ? Says who .. It is not about the how hard you scrape that lovely things that help you bite your food its about how correctly you clean them .
I showed him the correct way of brushing. Yes we have a standard brushing technique which we had to study to clear exams in Dental course. But not every lame human would be able to follow 45 degrees ! Going round over your teeth with a a slight tilt when you reach the gums as if you want to push down the food which is just immdtly below your gums would help. We need to use a soft brush and never go horizantal. As that would wear out your enamel ( The hardest substance in our body ) over a period ! Rinsing / Gargling your mouth after every meal would do a great deal to your teeth. Brushing twice ' regularly' unlike my naughty patient would help yourself too. Massaging your gums with a wet finger will improve the blood circulation in the same. I would also note that some times our fissures are so steep that inspite of religious cleaning a decay could evoke. This is because the brush never cleanses the area no matter what circus we do. Cmon, now you rush to the Dentist !!
How we could help is we take that " drilling machine " as everyone calls it .. ( Carpentors are my brothers !!! ) and widen the steep space. We apply something called a sealant there which covers the area and is usually a flouride content which inturn prevents food lodgement !! By the way .. that is not a drilling machine and it is just a cutting device which helps us remove the decay from your teeth He insisted that is what even he said to drill a hole ! I made no effort to argue but just flashed smile as usual. He said ok doctor I will not use that word in your office again. Good , I said ! So now I had to come to the treatment part and said its nothing but removing the decay with the device and filling it with some good material just like how a leak over a pipe is closed. There I saw him smiling in competition with me and said Is That All ?? Phewww !! Yes that is about it, Mr. Patient !
He got his appointment for the next day and left with a relief that Dentists are after all Plumbers !!!