Office Workers At Heightened Risk Of Tooth Decay

The findings of a recent British study seem to indicate that office workers experience tooth decay earlier than others. Why? Probably because of unhealthy, unregulated eating habits. The food we eat affects the biofilm that coats our teeth, after all. Biofilm is what we call a colony of bacteria that stick to a singular surface, creating a sticky, almost liquid like substance, like the one in your mouth. It is the soil in which bacteria grow, if I may use the analogy, and it is very important that you know how to deal with it, as it can be the cause of chronic and severe infections.

Is Laziness The Problem?

Teeth are self cleaning entities, much like hair and ears. But they need you to eat raw veggies and fruits and grains in order to break up the biofilm. The twenty first century has seen an exponential rise in oral problems. The biggest disadvantage of our modern cuisine is that there is way too much carbs in it, and that the texture is soft and mushy, usually.

Comfort is the key word in our modern life, with readily made foods and restaurant prepared goods, as the food we eat has matched our lifestyles, it has become something we just grab on our way to work. People do not like to chew their foods anymore either, that’s why you have bite sized things, smoothies, crushed fruits and steamed veggies, and of course, bread without the crust. This is a problem, as chewing things dislodges food debris, and causes the stuff hurting your teeth to move and be swallowed or crushed, and it removes plaque as well.

Proof For Office Workers

In a study published in 2012, evidence was gathered that the modern diseases associated with bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle particularly affect office workers, who lead an almost completely sedentary lifestyle. The study was compiled from information gathered from 175 dentists and oral hygienists. Roughly one thousand Britons aged 16 and over were asked about their eating habits and lifestyle in an online survey. The results were than inspected with relevance to the health of the oral cavity.

The results showed that more and more people are living sedentary lifestyles, which has a distinctly negative effect on oral health. The reason is because we are spending less and less time on getting good, healthy foods, and we are eating pre-made foods more and more often, and often we just snack all day instead of having set meals. Tea, coffee and especially soft drinks are also rotting our teeth.

It is of course extremely difficult to change our dietary habits, if we have set times for meals, and we do not have the time to prepare food and work full time, and if there are mostly fast food restaurants near us. In this case we can change our oral hygiene instead. Dentists found that most people were not doing enough to prevent cavities from forming.

80% of the office workers in this study did not brush enough times, and brushed for less than two minutes at a time. To top it all off, 20% of them admitted to leaving out brushing in the morning, as they have no time to do this basic oral health care procedure.

Prevent It

The problem is given, we do not want to get a different job, but something needs to be done. Here are a few tips to help you get your oral hygiene up to par:

- After eating or drinking coffee, rinse your mouth out, or chew sugarless gum. This will help increase saliva production, which will help your mouth take care of itself.

- Brush your teeth at least twice a day, and make sure you brush for at least two minutes each time.

- Clean your oral hygienic equipment

- Use mouthwash from time to time, to disinfect your mouth

- Eat as many fruits, vegetables, and high fiber foods as possible, preferably in the raw

- MInimize your coffee and soda intake

- Do not be too lazy to chew! Work those teeth!

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