r patients with a diet rich in carbohydrate, that could be a problem. They could have very sticky plaque. Or patients who have snacks all the time, so limit snacking. It could be need beneficial. And also, I always recommend the patient to brush thoroughly two or three times a day and especially after eating.
Dr. Chang: Speaking about that, we also have teenagers who are maybe listening, one of the things that they sometimes consume is softdrinks or fizzy drinks or carbonated drinks. I may see sometimes maybe their brother or sister, they’re bringing a bottle of softdrinks. Is there a right way to consume? Of course, we have to consume these in moderation and that goes to fruit juice as well. But is there a right way to drinking this or should we just cut it off entirely?
Dr. Tang: Ideally, I’ll prefer my patients to cut it off completely. But obviously, this is not possible. With the fizzy drinks, it’s not only the sugar that I’m worried about. It’s actually the acid as well. So in an acidic environment, you can get more bacteria that’s causing tooth cavities. So if you really want to consume it, try to limit the frequency if you can.
Dr. Chang: As in drinking it all in one go, right? Rather than sipping it every now and then. But if you’re doing these sort of sports when your mouth gets dry, drink it all in one go. And would that be …
Dr. Tang: Yeah, that’s exactly right.
Dr. Chang: And rinsing out with some water afterwards just to rinse out all the sugar. Would that be OK?
Dr. Tang: Yeah. I’ll probably wait for the saliva to neutralize the acid. I’ll probably wait for 20 30 minutes before I brush my teeth.
Dr. Chang: Right, yeah. And then definitely that as well. Right. Thank you. So, if we can now just go to the – OK. Let’s say I’ve had some – I mean sometimes when I haven’t been cleaning my teeth well, how – what are some signs or – I mean as a parent, I want to know that my son or my daughter is cleaning their teeth well, my teenage son or teenage daughter or a younger child, how can I check? How do I know?
Dr. Tang: Well, the first sign you’ll probably get with gum disease is probably bleeding gums and sometimes you might get swollen gums. So the gums appear puffy especially underneath the braces. And these could be the first warning signs. So if you are in doubt, always get your local dentist or your orthodontist to have a look and really check it out properly.
Dr. Chang: And this one common, very common question I get is, “My gums bleed when brushing. Should I stop brushing in that area? I mean what should I do? I mean I’m worried my gums – I mean I’m worried about bleeding.”
Dr. Tang: Andrew, I assume we’re talking about gum disease. So that’s basically a plaque related issue. So if you control the plaque well, most of the time, the bleeding gum will stop.
Dr. Chang: And that actually means spending an extra time brushing where you have this sort of situation where you haven’t cleaned well. You’ve got this food debris on your teeth let’s say for a day or two and it has been causing your gums to bleed. Don’t stay away from that area even though it may bleed a bit.
Dr. Tang: Exactly. In fact, you should do it more. And you find that if you brush really well for a few days, the bleeding gums actually stop. Now, if it still doesn’t stop, there might be some other underlying problems which you should really get your local dentist or orthodontist to have a look.
Dr. Chang: And as an orthodontist, can I say that one of the very, very common areas I see with patients and this goes with children, with teenagers, with adults, with braces, one of the areas that they don’t spend or the gums usually going to be puffy are the lower front teeth where the braces are closest together. So this is one area where actually I would suggest to all patients to actually spend more time cleaning that area.
So – which leads us to the next question. Let’s say if we have gum disease, and this is – how can it be treated? Let’s say, I’ve seen my orthodontist. I’ve seen my dentist and he says, “This is something which is a bit more than the 