Diet is a very important factor in dental health . When you eat, the bacteria inside your mouth break sugars and carbohydrates down into acids. These acids can damage tooth enamel, leading to tooth decay. You can minimize your exposure to these acids by making careful choices of what to eat and drink.
Good Food and Drink Options
Dairy products, meat, and nuts can all promote dental health. These foods contain calcium and phosphorus, which can remineralize teeth, helping to repair tooth enamel. Crunchy fruits and vegetables are also beneficial to teeth . Their high water content dilutes their natural sugars. Their consumption also encourages salivation. Saliva can rinse away both food remains and acid. Excellent beverage choices include water, milk, and unsweetened tea.
Less Advisable Food Choices
For optimum dental health, limit your consumption of foods such as candy, sweets of all kinds, baked goods, French fries, bananas, raisins, and dried fruit. Foods with a high sugar content provide nourishment for acid-forming bacteria in the mouth. The sugars can therefore be readily converted into damaging acids. Sweet and sticky foods are particularly inadvisable, as they often adhere to the surfaces of teeth. The consumption of sugary drinks should also be minimized. In particular, avoid sipping soft drinks at frequent intervals throughout the day to minimize the amount of time teeth are exposed to acids.
Sugars and Artificial Sweeteners
To protect your teeth, you should avoid all sugars, not just sucrose or table sugar. Honey, molasses, fructose, rice syrup and most sweeteners ending in -ose are all potentially damaging to teeth. Artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, and sorbitol taste sweet, but are not acid-forming.
Here at University Associates in Dentistry , we provide a wide range of dental services. If you are looking for a dentist in Chicago, visit our website, or call us at (312) 704-5511 to find out more about how we can help you care for your teeth.