Along with brushing, regular dental visits, and fluoridation, there is one more way patients can help their dental health, and overall physical health. The right diet for the teeth!
In this article, in particular, we will look at how food groups can help tooth durability and which groups cause damage.
Dairy products that are low in fat (cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.), but high in calcium, strengthen the inside of our teeth. It is one of the basic building blocks of teeth.
Frequent hydration of our body with water helps in the correct and continuous production of saliva, which neutralizes the acids produced by the microbes in our mouth. This also helps prevent bad breath. At the same time, a properly hydrated body can better fight diseases that can affect the mouth and teeth.
The fiber found in fruits and vegetables also helps to produce saliva and remove bacterial plaque due to their hardness. BEWARE of many fruits, as the acids and sugar they contain can damage tooth enamel, which is the teeth’s strongest defense against tooth decay.
You have heard many times that sugar and sweets destroy teeth. Not only the sugar they contain, but also their sticky texture, are the biggest factors in creating tooth decay. The microbes in our mouth feed on them and produce acids, which destroy the hard tissues of the teeth, creating foci, which we call caries. It is recommended to eat small amounts of sweets, even if we eat them immediately after our main meals, thus reducing the frequency of production of these destructive acids.
The same can be said for soft drinks or other sugary drinks as well as alcoholic beverages. With the only addition that carbonated soft drinks are themselves acidic which further erode enamel. Heavy drinking can cause decreased salivation and dry mouth, and in some cases even mouth cancer.
Another bad habit for the teeth that we have adopted in Cyprus as well as in other very hot climates, is to chew the ice cubes as soon as our drink is finished. This can cause damage to the teeth, either to the nerve (inside them), or in the form of small fractures, which slowly weaken the enamel, making them more likely to decay, causing sensitivity or a complete tooth fracture.
If we succeed in all these bad habits for the teeth and avoid them in 80% of the cases, then our teeth will be with us for a large part of our life, maybe even its entire duration.
Even your dentist eats sugar, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it. Using, of course, as a rule an ancient Greek saying: “Pan Metron Ariston”.
