"Baby teeth aren't important."
Oh, no! Guys.
Oh, my goodness.
Can I rip this?
Yeah. Rip it, rip it.
Yah!
"Acidic fruits will whiten your smile."
Oh, please don't do this.
Lin: Yeah.
"Fillings last forever."
Yeah. They're kind of like relationships.
Hi, I'm Dr. John Yoo.
I'm a pediatric dentist in New York City and New Jersey.
It was between this and K-pop.
Lin: Oh, my God. [Yoo laughs]
Hi. I'm Dr. Jason Lin.
I'm an orthodontist, and I straighten teeth for a living.
And today we will be debunking myths about teeth.
"Cavities are irreversible."
That's all you, bud.
Yes, it's a myth.
That doesn't mean, though, that we've been fooling you guys
for your entire life.
Some cavities are reversible, some are irreversible.
Depends on the depth of the cavity.
If you look at the three layers of your teeth,
the outer layer, enamel,
has the capability to remineralize.
If the cavity is within the enamel,
technically it's reversible.
If the cavity penetrates to the second layer, dentin,
which is made up of a bajillion microtubules,
the bacteria can now shoot through the tubes
into the pulp, which is the center of your tooth
where your blood supply and your nerves are housed.
If it goes into the second layer,
I may recommend to the patient,
"Hey, this is most likely going to get bigger.
We don't know how fast, but we don't want to wait too long."
When we have to drill into the tooth and do a filling,
most times it is irreversible.
And if you have a small cavity limited to the enamel,
what can you do at home?
You want to limit your acid, sugar intake.
Your enamel is the hardest substance in your body.
Over time, just like the brick wall of a building
may wear away with weather and storm, patchwork is needed.
And what patches up the lost minerals in the enamel
is the fluoride in your toothpaste.
"Acidic fruits will whiten your smile."
Oh, please don't do this.
Please don't do this, guys. Lin: Yeah. I know.
Yoo: Don't do it with acid that you have
in your refrigerator.
The acid will erode your teeth.
You may even develop cavities.
Erosion is real.
We'll put a picture of erosion up here.
Lin: In some ways it does get whiter.
What happens is the chromogens,
which are the pigmented molecules
we talked about with the whitening,
the acidic fruits, they disperse that as well.
It makes the teeth a little bit whiter.
But the worst part is, you're actually weakening the teeth
more than you are actually whitening the teeth.
So long term, it's not great.
If you want to whiten your smile, what do you recommend?
In-office whitening maybe once or twice a year,
and then to maintain it at home, at-home whitening kits.
Yoo: The hydrogen peroxide, the carbamide peroxide,
whitening product is a controlled,
short-duration treatment.
Lin: Not fruit.
Stay away from your orange.
"Braces are just for crooked teeth."
It's a good one for you.
Perfect.
Most of my patients, I would say, it's for aesthetics.
But at the same time,
there's a lot more reasons than just crooked teeth
that you get braces or aligners.
There's the functional aspects as well, obviously.
Underbites, overbites, cross bites, deep bites, open bites.
Also grinders, traumatic occlusion,
any sort of spacing issues.
We usually do aligners in those patients
because we have this extra protective layer over their teeth
while straightening and fixing their bites at the same time.
So, many parents might say, "My kid's 9 years old,
why does he need aesthetic teeth? He doesn't even care."
Lin: Yeah.
The patient has severe crowding.
If nothing's done, impaction will occur.
That's when the teeth get jammed up in a traffic jam.
And that makes the orthodontics or movement
harder when they're teenagers.
They're in braces for a longer time.
So before the problem gets too big,
we try to fix functional components,
and then the aesthetics can always follow.
Yeah.
"A knocked-out tooth is gone for good."
No!
Mm-mm.
Time is of the essence here.
It's important to know that a knocked-out tooth
is not a dead tooth.
This is considered an emergency
because if the tooth can be reimplanted by the dentist
within half hour, one hour max,
Lin: Yeah. It drops off. Yoo: then it does have a
increased odds of survival.
Reimplantation, if it's possible, is step one.
It sounds crazy.
But put it back in the tooth,
because that's where its home is.
Now, if that's not possible, put it in a glass of:
Milk.
Also not a joke.
So, what type of milk?
Whole milk is the best choice.
The milk has a similar pH
to the cells on the root of the tooth.
And if you can keep the cells alive for longer,
then the tooth has a better chance of survival.
There is a common misconception
that you could put the tooth in water.
Don't do that.
In fact, your saliva is better.
Putting in a bag of saliva,
water will make the cells on the root pop.
"Diet sodas won't give you cavities."
Myth. Myth, guys, myth.
I do like the effort.
Why does it cause cavities?
Lin: Not necessarily because they don't have
any sugar at all,
but it's because of the pH levels being low
and it's acidic.
Yoo: There are certain drinks that are more harmful.
You want to look at the pH of them, the sugar content.
Sports drinks, soda, wine.
These healthy things, like orange juice, apple juice,
they may be good for vitamins.
Dental standpoint, they're attacking your teeth.
Sorry to rain on your parade.
If you look at the pH of milk, it's a lot less acidic,
and it has more protective factors.
Water is best.
Lin: Water and seltzer. I agree.
Oh, that's such a sad list.
Lin: Yeah. I know. [both laugh]
Enjoy in moderation.
"Fillings last forever."
They're kind of like relationships.
Your relationship with your wife,
that's going to be forever.
But in certain situations, they may not.
Lin: You actually see that
a lot of the times where you need to redo a filling,
it's from an existing filling.
It wasn't sealed all the way.
It could be that there was a little bit of cavities
underneath it, and then it got a little bit worse,
and then you got to do the filling again.
Even after you get a filling,
if you're still not flossing,
you're still not brushing,
you can easily just get another cavity
where that existing filling was.
So the maintenance on the patient side
is also very important.
Lin: Yeah.
Oh. "Dental cleanings aren't necessary."
This one's tough.
Sometimes they're not.
Lin: Yeah.
But let me preface it! All right?
It is a preventive service along with the examination
that is the most helpful. Lin: Agreed.
It's not the dental cleaning itself.
It's like getting an annual checkup.
For some patients, even a six-month cleaning is not enough.
Some patients come back every three months. So it depends.
If you do have calculus or very hard plaque,
we use, in the office, scalers,
which are very sharp blades to scrap off things.
We use a cavitron, which is an ultrasonic machine
that sprays out water and bursts these things into pieces.
Lin: These are very satisfying.
Our job as dentists is to maintain your oral health.
And there are certain things that you can't do at home
that we can do for you.
So the cleaning is just one way for us
to regularly check up on you
and to make sure everything's going OK.
"Retainers aren't for life."
[sighs] This one hits home.
I've worn a retainer for about 25 years now in my life.
If you want to keep your teeth exactly where they are,
it's hard to say that, "Hey, you don't need a retainer."
So, the purpose of a retainer
after you get braces, after you get aligners,
it's to hold your teeth in that position
so that your smile stays the way that it is.
But then, secondarily,
we see a lot more grinders in the office.
And with those grinders,
it actually adds an extra layer of protection
so that if they grind, they're going to grind away
the plastic before they grind away their own teeth.
Yoo: And over time, the relapse potential
is less and less, but is never zero.
If you want to keep relapse incidents lowest,
then you should wear it for as long as possible.
So you could be on your deathbed with your retainers.
"You should floss before brushing."
What do you do?
I floss first.
I do too.
Technically it doesn't matter.
I'm not going to make you floss before.
But logically it makes sense to.
You're debriding between the teeth,
you're removing the bacteria,
you're brushing after, then you're rinsing.
Makes sense. There's no long-term study;
that's why there's no general consensus.
What happens if you don't floss
and you don't clean that up to 40% of surfaces,
very commonly I have to treat
what's called interproximal decay.
That's decay in between teeth
that are not visible to the eyes.
Lin: And if the calculus builds up there over time,
you get that little bit of bone loss,
and if you don't clean it,
then that's what leads to the gum disease.
In general, I don't think it matters
if you floss before you brush.
The most important thing is that you actually do floss.
"Baby teeth aren't important."
Oh, no!
Yah!
Parents often ask,
"Why do we need to treat this cavity?
Can't you just pull it out?
He's going to get a new one in a couple years, right?
Lin: Baby teeth are like the space holders.
If you lose them a little bit too early,
your teeth won't know where to go,
and then the teeth can get confused a little bit.
Kids can also have psychological effects from it.
Losing two front teeth very early,
3-year-old might not care,
but a 4- or 5-year-old might.
In these instances, it's important to prioritize
a child's development.
Speech, psychological well-being,
and, of course, the orthodontic preservation.
"Everyone has wisdom teeth."
Myth.
Yoo: Myth. Lin: That's a myth.
Not everybody does.
The wisdom teeth are the most commonly
congenitally missing teeth.
That means that some people aren't born with them.
Yoo: How many do you have? Lin: I have four.
I had three, so I'm less wise than Dr. Lin.
They're the third molars.
They're the ones all the way in the back.
Typically, you see them if they erupt,
between 17 and 21.
And very commonly they are removed
because they become impacted.
It's a good idea to remove them
before they become a problem.
Like, maybe in your late teens, early 20s.
Yoo: The college kids.
It's because the bone isn't as dense
as if you were in your 30s or so.
So no, not everybody has wisdom teeth.
And when it comes to whether or not
you need to get your wisdom teeth out,
that's also a myth.
Not everybody needs to get them out.
"Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda
are good toothpaste replacements."
Myth.
Yeah. Myth.
Yeah. It's missing a key ingredient, which is?
Fluoride.
Let's say that you're lost in the woods.
You've lost your toothpaste.
Yeah. Tragic. I know.
Can you use these things?
I feel like it's better than nothing.
It's more important to brush it off.
The hydrogen peroxide and baking soda
are parts of your toothpaste.
But it's not the whole thing.
So you're missing the one mineral --
The most important. Yeah.
That is remineralizing your teeth.
It's keeping them healthier.
So do yourself a favor and grab some fluoride toothpaste.
"You're too old to get braces."
Myth. 100%.
I have patients of all ages.
It's not even just a functional thing.
I think self-esteem plays a lot for adults and kids.
So, there's no such thing as adult braces.
Braces that we use for teenagers and adults are the same.
But one thing I will say is
we do do a lot of aligners for my adult patients.
So, these are aligners.
So basically something like this,
you get little bumps on your teeth,
and then the tray goes over the top of it.
And this is basically the clear alternative to braces.
The issue is the compliance 90% of the time.
Will the patient wear it?
That's why I do braces more on teenagers
and aligners more on adults.
So even though we give you the trays
for two to three months at a time,
as orthodontists we still want to monitor the progress
just to make sure that the teeth are on track,
they're moving the right way,
and you're not at any increased risk to lose any teeth.
"Teeth that have had root canals can't feel."
Huh.
Myth.
Yeah. Myth. 100%.
But that seems logical, because a root-canal procedure
removes the nerve of the tooth.
The reason they remove it
is that the cavity progresses into the center of the tooth,
infecting the entire chamber
where the nerves and blood supply are housed.
The root canal is actually a really good option
for keeping that tooth in your mouth
for as long as possible.
It can still feel,
because the surrounding ligaments
the attachments to your bone, for example,
periodontal ligaments, are still intact.
Technically you can still feel sensation, pressure.
But it shouldn't give you tooth pain
if that's what you had before.
It may sound really strange
that you're leaving a dead body part in your mouth.
That sounds kind of gross.
I know.
But the alternative is no tooth or an implant,
which is an artificial tooth
where you're screwing it into the bone.
You can ask any dentist.
In most cases where the root canal is an option,
they will choose the root canal.
But I will mention that
because the root canal is so technique-sensitive,
it's important to find someone who does it well.
"You'll lose all of your teeth when you're old."
Aw.
I think it really depends on
how you take care of your teeth.
I have patients in their 50s, 60s,
their teeth look better than some of my
20-, 30-year-olds. Honestly.
So that's why we emphasize so much hygiene, good habits.
There's also a genetic component to aging.
Some people have less bone density.
Some people are born with really amazing teeth.
If you have impeccable hygiene
and good genetics, you'll be OK.
But if you don't, it'll come faster.
The goal is to get the most mileage out of your teeth
as possible before we need to intervene.
So try your best to take care of it.
That's the only thing you can control.
You can't control genetics.
So if there's one thing you can take away from this video,
it's important to brush, floss,
and wear your retainer.
That's a good one.
For me, the takeaways:
use fluoride toothpaste,
baby teeth are important,
and just try your best.