Um, Friend...Why Do You Always Have Food Stuck In Your Teeth After Lunch?
Embarrassing, annoying, and even painful...Here’s what may be causing that food to get stuck:
“Food gets stuck in between my teeth when I eat, and now I always have to floss!”
Does this sound familiar?
If so, the key part to that statement is: “NOW”
Meaning, you didn’t ALWAYS get food stuck there, and you didn’t ALWAYS have to floss after every meal…right?
Everyone falls victim to the usual culprits of corn on the cob, BBQ ribs, or pineapple...
But now you’re getting blueberries, salad greens, nuts, and seeds stuck right up front there. It just tucks right in at your gumline for all to see when you smile? It can be embarrassing when you’re out and about.
OR!
Maybe you eat meat, and it JAMS between your back teeth? You probably have a heck of a time getting it out? The floss won’t get it. A toothpick won’t either…
These are very different places that food gets stuck, and they have very different reasons why. Let’s try and figure it out for you…
In one instance, there are the embarrassing moments of getting blueberries and salad stuck in between your front teeth while you’re out on the town. In the other instance, we have the full-on JAMMING of large chunks of chicken in between your back teeth after you chew.
Catching food is not good, no matter where it is. Aside from the embarrassment, it can cause decay and gum and bone disease.
So, it’s very important that you keep the area super clean. It’s also important to have it looked at by your honest dentist to ensure that an underlying problem is not the cause.
Here are what your main culprits usually are...
The most common reason for food getting stuck in your FRONT teeth is...
Gum Recession
Gum recession is when your gum tissue pulls back from its natural position along your teeth. There are a few reasons that this happens. They’re usually self-inflicted.
It may simply be that you are getting a little more “mature” in age and are genetically prone to this problem. It seems to start happening around 40 years old, right along with your eyesight. Lol. The gums are supposed to fill in a triangle area between your teeth, but when recession occurs, the gums move back, and the triangle opening is exposed. That opening now catches and holds the food.
If this is the case, the easiest and the best solution for you would be to floss or waterpik the area and keep it clean. Unfortunately, our gums do not grow back, and there is no good dental procedure that will fill them back in. It just is what it is. Make sure you are not OVER brushing. You can create MORE recession, if so. We’ll talk a bit more about that below, so be sure to keep reading.
Confession: Even though I MYSELF have brushed and flossed correctly over the years, as time has passed, my OWN gum tissue has fallen back a tad bit. I get food stuck in my front teeth too. Sometimes it just happens. All we can do is give it our best.
Recession may happen EARLIER in life IF you are someone who is genetically more prone to gum and bone issues. The same would be true if you are someone who brushes too aggressively. (Your toothbrush should NEVER look smooshed or frayed out. If so, you’re brushing too hard. You should be able to use that toothbrush for “100 years” without it fraying. It’s the truth.)
It’s also important not to brush with a medium or hard toothbrush. Those brushes should be in the bathroom cleaning aisle! They only sell them because people will buy them. Sure, you’ll get your mouth nice a clean, but you can easily BRUSH YOUR GUMS AWAY.
Over a longer period of time, you could also brush your tooth STRUCTURE away, causing ABRASION. Toothbrush abrasion happens just like water erodes the side of a riverbank. The root area of your tooth will begin to scoop inward, catching even MORE food.
Please read the SODA that we have spilled for you on recession, proper brushing, and gum disease prevention. There you will find even more detailed info to help prevent recession from happening any further.
As we said above, once you brush your gums away, they WILL NOT grow back. So, be sure that you are brushing and flossing correctly to prevent it.
You’ve got this. All you need is your honest dentist, some SODA knowledge, and a little willingness for change in your routine.
2. You may have an “open contact” between your teeth.
The chewing surfaces of our teeth are supposed to contact each other. They should touch, tooth to tooth.
When they touch correctly, we can chew, and food flows around as it should.
When the teeth are NOT touching, we have something called an “open contact.” With the contact wide open, the food is allowed to pack down in between your teeth. Meat is among the worst!
When you floss, you may have a difficult time getting the floss in between your teeth. If it snaps in, that is a GOOD thing! Tight contacts and snapping floss is ideal! It means that you have a GOOD contact point between the two teeth.
If the floss just goes easily in between, though, and you can slide the floss in there with hardly any effort, that is NOT a good thing! This is what we call an “open contact.”
“If the floss goes in between easily, the food will go in between easily.”
When the food gets packed down in there, it rots, festers, and harbors bacteria. Cavities and gum disease become a real worry.
Open contacts aren’t usually a naturally occurring problem.
Open contacts most often occur as a result of :
1. Orthodontic movement (braces)
Braces move your teeth all over the place, opening and closing contacts all along the way. The orthodontist should check your final contacts before removing your braces.
If the teeth shift slightly after your braces are removed and you develop an open contact, go see your orthodontist and let them know. They can adjust your retainer to try and close that contact.
This is pretty rare, but it happens.
2. A new crown or filling has been placed
It is a dentist’s job to do the best they can with the fillings and crowns they place in your mouth.
The margins of the restorations should be as flush with the tooth structure as possible.
They should NOT have big ledges that floss, food, and plaque catch on, and there shouldn’t be an open contact when they’re through.
Sometimes two teeth are positioned in such a way, that an ideal contact is near impossible to achieve. This is not too common, though. An honest dentist would be able to explain this to you and would take the time to help you understand why.
3. A cavity has formed
A cavity is a hole.
Sometimes a cavity forms in between two teeth, and a hole is created that is large enough to break the contact between the teeth.
Food will always find that hole and pack down into that open contact.
For this reason, it’s extremely important to get dental cleanings and exams with your honest dentist regularly. During those appointments, they will check for cavities and find them for you while they are SMALL. They will fix the cavities and contact point with a filling or crown, whatever they feel is needed.
4. A tooth has been lost, allowing the teeth around it to shift
Believe it or not, gravity affects your teeth too.
Our teeth naturally want to move towards the midline of our face. Our midline is the place right between your eyes. You can continue an imaginary line down along the ridge of your nose, past your two front teeth, and down to the center of your chin. That imaginary line is your midline. Gravity pulls your teeth towards it, from either side of your mouth.
So, if you lose a tooth somewhere, the tooth behind it will eventually want to tilt into its place. This creates a space behind THAT tooth now, and an open contact can form.
There is a difference between an open contact and a large space though
When you are missing a tooth, that space is much larger than what we consider an “open contact.”
When a space is LARGER, the food doesn’t usually get caught in it. So, if you lose a tooth, you don’t have to worry so much about the food, as you do about what teeth are going to want to move into that empty space.
The tooth behind it, AS WELL AS the tooth that it used to chew with (above or below), will want to move into the missing space. It’s all because of gravity.
The chewing tooth will want to continue to erupt because there is no tooth opposing it any longer.
As that chewing tooth continues to erupt over the years, open contacts can THEN develop. Gum and bone loss can occur, and the cycle continues.
As always, this is yet ANOTHER reason why it is very important that you maintain a consistent maintenance relationship with your honest dentist.
It’s not JUST about toothaches and cavities. We PROMISE!
Regular visits with the dental hygienist keep everything nice and clean, yes, but they are also designed to check for any new problems or potential problems. The goal is to catch things early on and prevent bigger problems.
Like we always say, “the best dental restoration is NO dental restoration.” If you DO need one, the best dental restoration is a SMALL restoration.
3. You may have lost a filling.
As holes get eaten away in your teeth, which is exactly what a cavity is, food can get trapped in those holes, wherever they may be.
If food getting trapped is a NEW occurrence, it’s quite possible that a cavity is to blame or that you’ve lost an old filling.
It can be very difficult to get the food out of these areas, and as the food sits in there, it festers and rots. The plaque bacteria in your mouth feed on this, and the decay gets even bigger.
When this is happening in between your teeth, the decay can even travel to the tooth next to it, creating an even BIGGER hole that will catch even MORE food. We call these “kissing cavities,” because the cavities are right next to each other, “kissing” tooth to tooth.
Before you know it, hunks of food are getting caught in there. Your gums start to ache from the packing of food and the number of bacteria that are now present.
It’s only a matter of time before the cavity eats its way far enough into your tooth for a toothache to occur. The infection can travel down into your gum and bone as well, causing disease there too.
This is a problem that is better fixed earlier than later. Go see your honest dentist asap and have them check.
If you don’t catch it early enough for a small filling fix, the solution may become a crown, root canal, etc.
Once you’re all caught up, continue to get your teeth cleaned with your honest dentist regularly. Doing so allows them to catch any problems while they are small.
By the time you’re jamming food or have a toothache, it’s usually a bigger problem. With dentistry, maintenance is the key to prevention.
4. It’s also possible that you have uncontrolled gum disease.
Tartar “barnacles” and inflammation in your mouth may be catching the food.
Bleeding gums are NOT normal.
You should never see bleeding when you brush or floss your teeth at home, no matter how vigorous you’re being. If you bleed, this means you have gum disease. You have gingivitis.
If gingivitis is not controlled, this gum disease will travel into your bone underneath and start to eat your bone away. Your bone is what holds your teeth in your head.
So, please read up on those SODA topics and be sure that you are seeing your honest dentist regularly to maintain the health of your mouth.
When gingivitis is allowed to remain, it can and will eventually travel into your bone underneath. Your bone could be silently getting eaten away under your gumline.
If you haven’t had your teeth cleaned in a while, “barnacles” of dead bacteria grow underneath, too, causing more of that gum and bone disease.
If your gums ARE puffy and bleeding for too long, more food will continue to get caught, and more gum and bone disease will happen.
It’s all a recipe for disaster...BUT it’s something that can reverse with the help of an honest dentist and hygienist.
It’s NEVER too late. Your teeth are important, and an honest dentist will do everything they can to make your experience as comfortable as possible.
Gum and bone disease is also linked to your overall body health. It’s a chronic infection that your body has to fight off every day, so you just HAVE to get rid of it.
You can do this!
So what should you do?
No matter why your food is getting stuck, you MUST keep that area as clean as possible. Keep it up until you and your honest dentist can determine the best treatment for your situation.
Sometimes, the best treatment IS just to keep it clean. We hope this is all that your honest dentist tells you.
Sometimes you’ll need to fix a cavity, close an open contact, or get your teeth cleaned thoroughly.
After that, just stay consistent with your honest dentist every six months and maintain with your brushing, flossing, and mouthwash at home. That’s the name of the game.
Be sure to check out our Produce Advice section to learn about our helpful SODA favorite products..
Though it would be best if we did, we’ll never claim to know it all, all of the time. NO ONE 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:
