Cavities, or dental caries, have been around mankind for a long time. Although caries are greatly promoted by sugars and the modern diet this does not mean that they just came into existence. Rather the opposite is true. In terms of recorded diseases, dental caries go all the way back into prehistoric times… back to skulls from millions of years ago where archeological evidence shows signs of tooth decay way back when.

But, this was millions of years ago, before dentists, flossing, brushing, medicines and all of the modern tools and information we have to combat this crisis. Seriously, we should have this licked by now.

Unfortunately the opposite is true, especially amongst our children. It is so bad that it is considered the top chronic childhood illness and just taking care of the tooth decay consumes hundreds of millions of hours each year, not to mention the pain and discomfort related to it.

Oral health and tooth decay is a major health issue for kids and adults alike. Depending upon what geographical area or country you look in, the facts are that two-thirds or more (in some areas this figure is close to 90%, yikes!) are affected with caries, tooth decay is rampant.

As tooth decay, and oral health issues, lead to so many other health issues–from heart disease to malnutrition to depression and others–this is not a minor health concern but one that can undermine our entire health and quality of life.

Diet plays a big role as does maintaining a quality oral health regimen–more on this in future posts. But as the main culprit is bacterial overgrowth and the byproducts of the bacterial life-cycle, then directly addressing this action would be a wise activity.

At Great Oral Health we believe we are providing a big part of that answer with the supplementation of oral probiotics into ones oral health regimen, thus balancing the bacterial colonies and stabilizing the pH to healthy levels.

There will be more information on tacking dental caries effectively in upcoming posts all this week, so read our mini-series for a broader picture on what you can do to improve the oral health of your children, your family and yourself.