Do your teeth hurt when you brush your teeth? Are they spotty and look rough? These could be chalk teeth. Dentists warn of the new “widespread disease”, which mainly affects children and adolescents. The experts also have a theory as to why chalk teeth are so common in our country.
Chalk teeth – also called molar incisive hypomineralization (MIH) – are uncomfortable: the teeth hurt when eating, drinking or brushing your teeth, and they also hurt with very hot or cold drinks. They also look ugly: They have furrows and are sometimes whitish, yellowish or even brownish in color.
The “German Society for Dentistry, Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine” (DGZMK) is now warning of the disease: Around 10 to 15 percent of all children are said to be affected, and even more among twelve-year-olds: almost every third child (30 percent) have chalk teeth. MIH is even more common in this age group than tooth decay. The DGZMK therefore speaks of a new widespread disease. The chalk teeth are not only unaesthetic and painful, their rough surface also makes them particularly prone to caries.
Possible causes of chalk teeth
Chalk teeth arise because the mineralization of the tooth enamel is disturbed. The reason for this is not yet entirely clear. “Plasticizers from plastics that are ingested with food seem to play an essential role in the development,” writes the DGZMK in one Message – so plastic. Specifically, based on animal experiments, a connection between bisphenol A consumption (BPA) and the development of MIH can be established. Problems during pregnancy, infectious diseases, antibiotics, chickenpox or dioxins are also conceivable causes.
BPA changes the hormonal balance
BPA is one of the most widely used synthetic chemicals in the world. The problem: It acts like a kind of hormonal pollutant because it has an estrogen-like effect and changes the hormonal balance.
BPA is extremely difficult to avoid in everyday life – it can be found in packaging, plastic dishes, and still in some Receipts and parking tickets, plastic pacifiers, food and beverage cans. In human studies, BPA was found in the blood, urine, amniotic fluid, and uterine tissue.
For better teeth: avoid BPA in early childhood
Since the tooth enamel develops between the eighth month of pregnancy and the fourth year of life of the child, the mineralization disorder must also occur during this time. It is therefore particularly important to avoid BPA as much as possible, especially during this period. Tips on this: Where to find bisphenol A (BPA) and how to avoid it. Although MIH is primarily a childhood disease, it can also occur in adulthood. Often the molars and central incisors are affected.
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