"Strong Enough for a Man, pH Balanced for a Woman"

Anyone who grew up when I did will remember this line from a deoderant commercial.  Without digressing too much into the politically incorrectness of it, let's just say this was my first exposure to "pH".  Do you know what pH means?

The symbol "pH" is used to identify the acidity or alkalinity of something.  The "p" is from the German "Potenz", meaning power, and the "H" stands for hydrogen.  The level of hydrogen in something generally relates to its acidity.  The scale of pH is a logarithmic scale, and trust me, its complicated.  Simply put, pH scale is the "hydrogen power" scale!

Here is an example of the pH scale.

Notice that pH 7 is neutral.  The lower the number on the scale, the more acidic you get.  The higher the number, the more alkaline, or basic.  And now you love chemistry, right?  Well, whether you do or not, pH is important when it comes to your oral health.  Our mouths like a neutral pH, or close to it.

The more acidic your mouth gets, the more sour it tastes, but it doesn't stop there.  Acids are what cause cavities.  So if you can keep your mouth as neutral as possible, you will combat the acids and prevent any cavities!  We have talked about saliva before, and saliva is what buffers the acids, keeping your mouth as neutral as possible.

Other things can help, like baking soda if you don't mind tasting chalk all the time.  There are mouth rinses and toothpastes that can help keep your mouth closer to neutral.  Every time you eat, the pH in your mouth drops to a lower number than 7.  You just need to get the pH back up to the middle of the scale.  Come see us and we can discuss what simple things you can do to keep from getting any cavities.