How and why does dental plaque form on human teeth?
Question: How and why does dental plaque form on human teeth?
Does dental plaque come from the foods we eat or is it produced by the human body itself?
If it’s the latter, why would our body produce something that has the potential to harm us?
If you think about it, our body produces other equally disgusting things [E.G. ear wax] that we rid ourselves of in an effort to maintain hygiene.
Cerumen is beneficial in that it prevents insects from entering the ear canal, so it makes sense that our body would produce it.
I see no benefit to dental plaque, however.
Answer by abhishek kalapala
it is a complex of bacteria & matrix of salivary proteins,
usually saliva is not that sticky due these bacterial contents it becomes sticky. so it is not made by the body!
saliva must have proteins & enzymes( enzymes also form of proteins)and it must be sticky to digest, lubricate food movements, to clean up the oral cavity(almost like ear wax), to avoid food lodging in tooth irregularities.
so these characters of saliva is more protective than harming.
dental plague wont cause any harm in less than 3 days,
only after three it starts halitosis(bad breath).
so better brush at least for every 3 days
-Dr.Abhishek dentist
Related Post:
your body does not produce plaque!!!
It is mostly from food that hasn’t been removed from your teeth. Think of it as the “left over” film on teeth because you didnt get it off.
No person on this earth is exempt from plaque! Even after a teeth cleaning there will certainly be some residual plaque left over on your teeth. So the issue is not rather or not you have plaque but how much you have. Some ppl have very low plaque indices while others have very high indices. This becomes a problem because the combination of plaque and an acidic environment cause the tooth to break down ( tooth decay AKA CAVITIES). The best thing I can tell you is to brush and floss after meals or as much as possible to help eliminate plaque build up.