You have whole communities of microbes living in your mouth right now and if you don’t treat them right, they’ll make holes in your teeth.

No matter how much you brush your mouth is filled with microbes. Thousands of bacteria live on every single one of your teeth. And that’s if you have excellent oral hygiene, you may even have some fungi and Amoebas in there too, which microbes are present changes all the time based on things like what you eat.

Now, lots of these microbes are totally harmless and some are even helpful. For example, some microbes like Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes aid your digestive process. Increasingly, we’re learning that to have a healthy mouth, we need healthy microbes as well. In fact, cavities are a good example of what can happen when the balance of microbes in your mouth gets out of hands. Many of the microbes on your teeth form something called plaque. And in small quantities, these guys can be our friends. Plaque is what’s called a biofilm, which is essentially a community of different microbes that all stick to a surface, which in this case is your teeth.

These different microbes pass molecular signals back and forth and swap genetic material to keep on growing. Eventually, the community even develops what you could think of as a circulatory system to transfer water and nutrients. And speaking of nutrients, the microbes in these biofilms need to eat. And one thing, some of them really love is sugar. So when you lick a Sweet, you’re not the only one getting a tasty treat after their meal. These candy and soda loving microbes release acid as a waste product and that acid is what pull out the minerals in your teeth eventually causing cavities.

Now, if you stop eating sugary foods and clean off the plaque by brushing, your teeth have a chance to recover. But if for example, you drink carbonated drinks all the time, the bacteria just produce more and more acid, which not only causes cavities but could also kill off some of the other good microbes hanging around.

As the balance of bacteria in your mouth changes, you could get even more tooth decay and other dental problems. So what should you do about it?

Well, don’t eat too many sugary foods. Remember to brush and floss and get regular cleanings from your dentist because we need to keep our communities of microbes happy and healthy.