Commonly Asked Questions About Tooth Enamel

Your tooth enamel protects your teeth from cavities and tooth decay. Your enamel is a thin, semi-transparent layer that covers the outside of each tooth. Did you know that it is stronger than any substance in the human body? Despite its strength, it can be damaged by the foods you eat and beverages you consume. Tooth enamel loss or erosion concerns dentists because it cannot heal itself. It does not contain living cells like other tissues in your mouth.

What Causes Enamel Loss?

Eating sugary or sour foods can contribute to enamel erosion. In addition, drinking sugary beverages such as sodas, fruit juices, energy drinks, and sports drinks also weaken and damage enamel. Some medications can affect the health of your enamel. Vitamin C supplements, acoffee, tea, anti-histamines, and aspirin all have the potential to damage your enamel as well. Alcoholics and bulimics tend to experience enamel erosion.

How much impact does lifestyle have on jaw shape?

Your lifestyle affects many aspects of your health. For example, you’re less likely to have heart disease is you exercise regularly, and you’re more likely to have lung cancer if you smoke.

UK anthropologist Dr. Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel says that our lifestyle may change the shape of our jaws.

The Study

To test this theory, Taubadel made detailed measurements of the skulls and jawbones of nearly 300 individuals from 11 different cultures with varying backgrounds, means of survival, and daily habits from the past few thousand years.

She found that skulls of people from hunter-gatherer societies had long, narrow jaws, while those who lived an agriculture-based life tended to have short, broad jawbones. When she considered other factors, such as climate, geographic location, genetics, heredity, and type of lifestyle, genetics and heredity were the only factors that proved to be insignificant when determining what type of jawbone was present. This suggests that the jawbone shape and size was dependent on something biochemical, such as lifestyle, location, and daily habits, rather than genetic make-up.