--- title: Sugar, teeth and the dentist — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Sugar, teeth and the dentist», a lesson of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A sticky film called plaque, full of bacteria, grows on your teeth every day; when you eat sugar the bacteria feed on it and make acid that --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/) / Sugar, teeth and the dentist # Sugar, teeth and the dentist Lesson 24 of the medicine course of Mova's primary school: 12 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/0/) — A sticky film called plaque, full of bacteria, grows on your teeth every day; when you eat sugar the bacteria feed on it and make acid that dissolves the hard enamel. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/2/) — If the attacks win, a hole, a cavity, eats into the tooth, and the dentist has to clean it out and fill it before it reaches the nerve. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/3/) — Fluoride toothpaste is the best defence: it hardens enamel and mends early damage, which is why you spit after brushing but don't rinse it away. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/4/) — Bacteria in plaque feed on sugar and make acid, which dissolves enamel and causes tooth decay, a hole called a cavity. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/5/) — How often you eat sugar matters most for teeth, because each sugary snack starts an acid attack of about an hour. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/6/) — For a filling the dentist numbs the tooth with a local anaesthetic injection, and the lip can stay numb for a few hours, so you mustn't chew it or eat hot food until feeling returns. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/8/) — Between about 6 and 12 years old the 20 baby teeth fall out as adult teeth push up underneath, and most children have 28 adult teeth by about 13, with wisdom teeth sometimes later. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/9/) — Baby teeth matter because they hold the space for adult teeth. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/10/) — Fissure sealants are thin plastic coatings painted into the grooves of back teeth to keep food and bacteria out, but they don't replace brushing. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/11/) — Braces slowly move teeth with steady pressure over months or years, and an orthodontist usually decides on them around age 12 or older; they are not only for looks, because straighter teeth can bite better and are easier to clean. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/14/) — Tooth decay is the most common reason children in the UK need an operation in hospital, usually to remove teeth. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/24-sugar-teeth-and-the-dentist/15/) — Many people feel nervous about the dentist, and dentists can agree a stop signal, like raising a hand. - ← previous: [Sunshine, vitamin D and water](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/23-sunshine-vitamin-d-and-water/) - next →: [The GP, the family doctor and the nurse](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/25-the-gp-the-family-doctor-and-the-nurse/) - ↑ back to [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/)