Need Cheap Dental Care? Drink Tap Water!

By Susan Braden

According the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the #1 chronic infectious disease among American children is tooth decay. Finding cheap dental care is nearly impossible in today's volatile economy, which compounds the problem. In actuality, drinking from the tap may reduce the amount of time you spend in the dentist's office!

Fluoride in Tap Water

The best way to avoid tooth decay is through regular teeth maintenance. This includes consistent brushing and flossing, and occasional trips to the dentist for checkups. When a patient goes to the dentist for a regular teeth cleaning, the dentist will normally apply a fluoride polish to the patient's teeth at the end of the cleaning. The fluoride creates a protective coating on the outside of the tooth, which helps prevent decay and other damage, much like a good coat of wax helps protect the paint on a car.

Most state governments add fluoride to public drinking water, so that their citizens will receive fluoride treatments every time they drink from the tap! Many bottled water companies, especially those advertised as "spring water," do not add fluoride. Consequently, those people who primarily drink bottled water are not getting the same amounts of fluoride as those who regularly drink from the tap.

Because of the fluoride added to tap water, you may be helping yourself obtain more cheap dental care every time that you take a sip! If you want to lower the cost of your dentistry work, drink from the tap to help build the fluoride coating on your teeth.

Water Cleans Out Your Mouth

Not only does tap water have added fluoride, but also drinking water in general can help you on your quest for low cost oral care, thanks to water's cleaning properties.

Most sodas, fruit juices, and sports drinks contain high levels of sugar and acid. Both sugar and acid are harmful to teeth over long periods of time. Even diet sodas, which are sugar-free, still contain the high levels of acid. On a pH scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being a neutral state and 1 being the acidity of a car battery, many sodas dip as low as 2.9 - 3.0 pH -- over halfway to battery acid!

Therefore, a simple way to move in the direction of cheap dental care is to limit your consumption of soda, sports drinks and fruit juices. It may be unrealistic to completely eliminate these liquids from your diet, but even limiting them will make a significant difference for your teeth.

When you cut down the amount of sugary, acidic drinks in your diet, replace these liquids with water. If, during the day, you saturate your mouth with cola and juice, acid and sugar can remain on your teeth and accelerate the decay process! However, if you drink water between your sodas, you can help wash the acids and sugars out of your mouth to bring it closer to a neutral pH.

Conclusion

Many people are concerned about the rising cost of dentistry work and are seeking cheaper care. Although oral care options are getting harder and harder to find, drinking tap water can help cut down the cost of dental work.

Both the fluoride added to tap water and water's cleaning properties work to help keep your teeth decay-free. Less decay and cavities means fewer trips to the dentist office; and less trips to the dentist office truly is the best way to have low cost oral care! Increased water consumption will both prolong the life of your teeth and help you on your way to cheap dental care.

For more cheap dental care tips from Susan, see this article.