Plaque vs Tartar? Dead or Alive?
The difference between tartar and plaque is super simple. Many have just never been taught about it or cared to ask about it until now…
Well, here you go:
Plaque is alive, tartar is dead :)
That’s it !! There you have it!
There’s more to the story, though, of course!
Read on to hear the glaring details….
1st...Plaque
Plaque is that white, mushy, sticky gunk that you can scrape off of your teeth with your fingernail. It’s what makes your teeth feel like they are wearing ugly sweaters as you run your tongue across their surfaces.
Plaque is LIVE bacteria, and it’s what is responsible for the destruction in your mouth.
It causes gingivitis (bleeding gums) when it eats away and infects your gum tissue.
It causes periodontitis when it eats at your BONE underneath. This happens when the gingivitis is not healed and is allowed to stay around too long. The gingivitis disease eventually travels down into your bone and starts to eat your bone away.
It causes cavities when it eats away at your teeth.
It causes bad breath, just like bacteria on your feet causes your feet to stink.
You want to keep plaque OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!
Plaque fully forms within a few hours of removing it…which is why we tell you to floss once a day and brush at least twice a day…then add some mouthwash afterward for whatever you miss.
Get it out of there as soon as it comes back. It’s essential to prevent all of that destruction !!!
You have the power to remove this stuff while it is soft. If you don’t remove it…you’re doomed.
Tartar (We like to call it “barnacles”)
Tartar (also called “dental calculus”) is DEAD plaque or DEAD gunky bacteria.
Tartar is the reason that you have to go to the dentist and have professional cleanings done. It won’t come off with flossing or brushing anymore.
Nature somehow knew that we would never be perfect at brushing and flossing. So, miraculously, our bodies have a natural defense mechanism built-in. When it comes to our mouth, our saliva is our natural defense mechanism.
Aside from digestion, our saliva is also equipped with minerals. The saliva shoots these minerals right into the live gunky plaque that we leave on our teeth.
When this happens, the plaque dies and becomes like a mineralized rock stuck to your tooth…aka a “barnacle.”
Once it is hard and stuck on your teeth like this, it can only be removed with the metal instruments that your outstanding dental professionals possess.
This natural defense process is intended to help kill whatever bacteria you miss with your brushing and flossing.
If you don’t floss well and don’t brush well, however, there will be a LOT more plaque to kill, resulting in a LOT more tartar buildup. This makes it a LOT more “fun” when you get your teeth cleaned.
Also, our saliva can’t usually kill EVERYTHING, so the live bacteria are allowed to stay and wreak that havoc on your mouth. The dead bacteria even acts as a home for more live bacteria to stick to and multiply…
The power is in your hands…Brush, Floss, Mouthwash, and get your teeth cleaned regularly for whatever you miss. We’re never perfect.
Also, when you don’t eat healthy (we know this isn’t the right word, but healthily is so hard to say! LOL), plaque bacteria grow at a much faster pace. More plaque means more plaque to kill, so our diet adds to the amount of “barnacle buildup,” too.
As we said, once this tartar is dead and stuck to your teeth like mineralized lava rock or barnacles, it creates an amazing home for more live bacteria to stick to. The cycle continues with more and more plaque piling on, eventually being killed. The tartar barnacles grow larger and larger.
This hard rock barnacle rubs on your gum tissue and causes it to get irritated. It traps more food and traps more of the live, disease-causing plaque. Your breath will go downhill in no time.
It’s not good. It’s not good at all. It’s so important that you stay regular at maintaining your mouth, keeping it clean and free of this stuff.
Have your teeth cleaned regularly. If not, you will soon have formed a mess that will take your hygienist multiple appointments to clean up.
Side note: routine dental cleanings are also how your hygienist and dentist find cavities before they get too big and out of hand.
Picture it all like food on a plate.
If you remove the food off of your plate while it’s soft, it will come off quite easily. If you allow the food to dry and THEN try to pick it off with a fork, how hard will it be to clean that plate?
Now, picture this, instead of cleaning it off with the fork, what if you added more food on top of that? Allowed it to dry again?….NOW try to pick it all off with that fork! Get the gist?
That is exactly what is happening in your mouth…if you don’t brush and floss to remove the bacteria while it is soft….If you don’t go and get your teeth cleaned regularly at the dentist, removing the tartar before it’s allowed to pile up and become large chunks….
Your whole goal is to have nice, clean, smooth, tartar and plaque-free teeth that will remain healthy and last your entire 100-year-old life!!
How to keep them the cleanest that you can…
1. Floss Daily! (or at least Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for starters)
2. Brush twice a day …or three times if possible. Don’t EVER skip NIGHT time brushing before bed.
3. Rinse with mouthwash to cover what you may have missed. Choose the mouthwash that is best for your mouth and your problems. There are two different types.
4. Get your teeth cleaned regularly. Every 3-6 months, or at least once a year, following your honest dentist’s recommendations. This is important because you are not perfect, and you will never prevent tartar from building up completely.
5. Use a water pick if you’re stubborn and won’t floss. Remember, there are floss pick cheaters too!
6. Eat healthy…Do we need another reason to be told to do this? Really?
7. Drink lots of water, limit sugary substances as much as possible. If you do eat some sugar, swish with water afterward to lower the acidity level in your mouth.
You may have a genetic “gift” when it comes to this stuff.
Click HERE to figure out which “gift” you might have. Each of us was given the cavity gene or the barnacle gene. We usually lean more towards one or the other, and it’s important to know which type you are.
Though it would be best if we did, we’ll never claim to know it all, all of the time. Nobody knows it all! We do claim honesty, though, and we sincerely want to help as many people as we can! Our patients have maintained beautifully, following our conservative recommendations :)
So, thanks so much for reading and letting us spill our SODA! Remember to take the time to find your HONEST DENTIST, and be sure to browse around our links and follow us on social media for answers to more of your exciting dental questions, like:
