If food is stuck in your teeth, it may be your teeth crying out for help! Don’t take it lightly…

Almost everyone has experienced food stuck in teeth. However, most of them can be easily cleaned out with fingers, tongue or dental floss, so many people do not take it seriously.

But, what you may not know is that if you often get food stuck in your teeth, it is likely that your teeth are sending us an alarm, so you must pay attention!!!

Why does "teeth get stuck"

There are actually gaps between healthy teeth, but these gaps are "hidden" - one tooth is close to another tooth, and the gap between them can be felt, but it is difficult to see directly with the eyes. Therefore, although we can use dental floss to pass freely through the gaps between teeth, under normal circumstances, food will not get stuck in the gaps between teeth.

If you start to get food stuck in your teeth more frequently, the most common reason is...the gaps between your teeth have widened.

There are three main reasons why the gaps between teeth become wider:

1. Tooth loss

When teeth become decayed, broken, worn, etc., the tight connection between teeth can be destroyed, and food can become lodged in the damaged areas of teeth (such as cavities) and be difficult to clean out.

2. Gum Recession

There are many reasons for gum recession, the most common of which is periodontitis. Periodontitis should not be taken lightly! (Click here to review "A disease that can cause all teeth to fall out, many people do not pay attention to it when they are young")

When the hygiene around the teeth deteriorates, tartar accumulates between the teeth and gums, which will continue to irritate the gums and cause them to become red and swollen. When periodontitis develops to a more serious stage, the alveolar bone that originally firmly supported the teeth may also be absorbed, and eventually the gums will shrink along with the alveolar bone, forming a "black triangle".

Demonstration of the gum recession process. Image source: Huaxi Doctors

In addition, continuous mechanical trauma can also cause gum recession. For example, using a hard bamboo toothpick to pick out food stuck in your teeth, or brushing your teeth vigorously with a toothbrush with hard bristles can damage the gums and cause gum recession.

Finally, as you age, your gums will also recede, but this physiological degeneration progresses very slowly and is much less severe than the previous two. However, when the gums eventually recede to a certain extent, a "black triangle" will still appear between the teeth.

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3. Tooth movement

When periodontitis progresses to a certain extent, not only will the gums recede, but the teeth will also become loose and eventually the position of the teeth will move, which will make the original gaps between teeth larger and larger.

Is there any way to treat frequent food stuck in teeth?

If a noticeable gap between teeth has already formed, it is very difficult to make it disappear. To treat food stuck in your teeth, you must first understand the cause of the food stuck in your teeth.

When there is a defect in the hard tissue of the tooth, the resulting gap between the teeth can be covered by filling, inlays, or crown restorations. Small defects can be directly filled with resin, while larger defects can be repaired with inlays, crown restorations, etc.

If the gums are receding due to periodontitis, trauma, etc., it can be repaired to a certain extent by doing periodontal basic treatment and periodontal surgery. However, when all teeth have irreversible periodontitis, and there are large gaps between most teeth, it will be difficult to restore the original tight arrangement in actual operation.

Therefore, preventing food from getting stuck in teeth and preventing the appearance of large gaps between teeth is much more important and simpler than treating it.

First, have regular dental checkups. If you find cavities and hard tissue defects, especially cavities on adjacent surfaces, you should fill them in time. If you don't fill small holes, they will eventually become larger holes, which will increase the difficulty and make it more likely that there will be irreparable gaps between teeth.

Secondly, you should have your teeth cleaned regularly. Going to a doctor for a teeth cleaning every year or so to clean the dental calculus can achieve good results. For those with more severe periodontitis, the teeth cleaning cycle can be shortened appropriately, and deep periodontal scaling may be performed according to the actual situation.

Teeth cleaning. Copyright image. Reproduction may cause copyright disputes.

Here we need to correct a misunderstanding:

People often say: "You can't wash your teeth. After washing, the gaps between teeth will become larger and the gums will shrink..." The fact is just the opposite. The reason for gum recession is not "teeth washing" but "not washing teeth" or "washing teeth too late."

The essence of scaling is to clean the tartar between the teeth. It is just to remove the tartar. The reason for the above misunderstanding is that after the tartar is removed, on the one hand, the gaps between the teeth that were originally blocked by the tartar are revealed; on the other hand, the original redness and swelling of the gums gradually subsides due to the removal of the irritating factors, and the gums further recede, and the gaps between the teeth become larger.

Therefore, the gums will be healthier after teeth cleaning. When the tartar is removed, the progress of gum recession is actually curbed. If you don't clean your teeth, the tartar will continue to press on the gums, which will only make the gums retreat lower and faster.

In addition, when tartar is removed, the spaces between teeth are easier to clean and new tartar forms much more slowly.

Schematic diagram of teeth cleaning. Image source: People's Daily

Tips for preventing food stuck in your teeth

You should pay attention to the correct brushing method on a daily basis, and use interdental brushes, dental floss, water flossers and other interdental cleaning tools at least once a day to clean the gaps between teeth or potential gaps - the adjacent surfaces of the teeth.

Finally, if there are some areas where food is always stuck in your teeth, never use bamboo toothpicks, as this can easily damage the local gums and cause greater traumatic gum recession. Instead, use more sophisticated cleaning tools such as dental floss to clean them.

Remember, only when your teeth and gums are hygienic and healthy enough, the gums will not continue to recede, the teeth will be strong, and you can say goodbye to food stuck in your teeth!

Author: He Jianliang, Chief Physician of General Dentistry, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Director and Researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association