You are what you eat’, the proverb reflects best on one’s teeth. When it comes to maintaining a healthy gum and teeth, it all depends on what you eat throughout the day. Good food not only helps to repair your body but helps in maintaining healthy gum and teeth too. One must focus on cutting out foods that adversely affect your overall health including dental care. Foods that are high in sugar, citric acid, foods that are chewy, excess in caffeine, such food products should be avoided if you want to maintain your dental health. Healthy foods that are high in fibre, dairy products which have calcium such a food intake would help in controlling the tooth decay.
Foods one should avoid for a good dental health:
Citrus Fruit: Food and beverage items that are high in citric acid can easily cause the enamel of your tooth to dissolve quickly. The result is much exaggerated if one doesn’t practice good oral hygiene daily. So always have a proper dental care plan ready to be executed daily if you want to enjoy the citrus fruit like the way you had been doing it this long.
Chewy and Hard Candy: If you’re a candy freak, you might have noticed that chewy candies usually get stuck on your teeth for a long time and that can easily lead to formation of a cavity. Whereas, harsh candies are chewed and washed away easily but they get dissolved at a slower pace, saturating your mouth, allowing bacteria more time to produce harmful acid causing damage to your teeth and enamel.
Sports Drink: Sports drinks might get your adrenaline rushing to another level, but remember that their acidic ingredient is certainly harmful to your beautiful and healthy teeth. Such drinks make your teeth extra vulnerable to bacteria which feeds off the excess sugar present in these drinks. The bacteria can penetrate the cracks of your tooth enamel, causing tooth decay.
Coffee and Soda: Coffee stains are usually more persistent than tobacco stains that need to be taken care of for healthy teeth. Whereas, soda contains citric and phosphoric acid that carries the potential to erode enamel if consumed excessively.
For good dental health, below are food items you must indulge in:
Frequent water consumption: Drinking water not only helps for healthy skin it also helps in washing the sugars and acid off the teeth. When you eat something many food particles get stuck between your teeth that decays the tooth enamel which is harmful. While drinking water such particles get washed off your teeth and gums creating less harmful bacterias.
Water and Dairy Products:
Where on one hand the water helps in washing the sugars and acid off the teeth, dairy products on the other hand have minerals like hydroxyapatite that strengthens tooth enamel. Consuming milk is one of the best ways to have healthy teeth, as it contains calcium which is an essential nutrient for teeth.
High fibre foods:
Leafy vegetables and other high fibre foods promote good digestion and healthy cholesterol levels, and they also do wonders for your teeth.
Various green leafy vegetables such as Spinach leaves, Lettuce, Kale and Arugula are some of the all-around superfoods that help in reinforcing your tooth enamel which provides good dental health.
Sugar-Free Gum and Cranberry Juice:
Gums, especially sugar-free ones generate a good amount of saliva that helps in the cleansing of teeth. Whereas, cranberry juice is known widely for reducing plaque by almost 95 percent.
Coconut Oil:
Using coconut oil may help keep your gum healthy. It prevents tooth decay and fights gum disease.
Remember, apart from having good food it is also essential to keep your teeth clean by brushing it twice a day, also whenever you’re consuming something that gets stuck between your teeth try to get it cleaned before you go to sleep, because while sleeping our body is in a repair mode and so your teeth.
The author is founder of Experteeth Dental Care