Diet and Oral Health: Foods that Benefit Your Teeth

Maintaining the health and appearance of your teeth takes more than just brushing, flossing, and using mouthwash. There are other ways to ensure your teeth aren't stained, and your mouth is bacteria-free.

Pure Smiles wants to help you understand the best food and drink to consume so your teeth won't pay the price, leaving you with improved oral health and a more manageable set of teeth.

Food and Drink to Avoid

We should limit the amount of sugar we consume for several reasons, but we will focus on how excessive sugar intake can affect your teeth.

Regularly eating food with high sugar levels can erode enamel, the protective surface of your teeth, leave your teeth more sensitive and increase the likelihood that you'll experience cavities or oral diseases. Tooth decay can be painful and require potentially invasive, emergency dental treatment, so limiting your sugar intake can avoid such problems.

Highly acidic food and drinks like citrus fruits, juices, alcohol, or coffee can cause similar issues with your oral health. There are healthy vitamins in fruit, but consuming too many citrus fruits can also erode the enamel and cause erosion. In the most severe cases of tooth erosion, a tooth may need to be removed, leaving you with incomplete teeth after significant discomfort.

Other problems caused by food containing a lot of acid and sugar include cracking, discolouration, gum recession, and changes to the shape of your teeth. 

Food and Drink to Add to Your Diet

You won't need to cut out fruit altogether if you want to eat healthily while protecting your teeth and gums. When eating in moderation, watermelon, bananas, and types of mango can fulfil your craving for nutritious fruit, but leave your teeth less prone to enamel erosion.

For example, eating plenty of green vegetables, beans, eggs, cheese, nuts, fish, rice, and corn benefits your body immensely and won't harm your teeth significantly. Drinking coffee is part of many people's routines, but if you cut down on the number of cups you have or switch to green tea, you’ll see and feel the benefits over time.

Make sure to drink plenty of water instead of fizzy drinks so your mouth won't feel as sensitive and possibly painful; making these choices habitual will do wonders for your oral health and provide you with an overall healthier lifestyle.

Advice from Pure Smiles

Keeping your smile in top condition needn't be overly challenging; attending routine appointments every 6-9 months is a great way to inspect your oral health and receive tips from dental professionals on caring for your mouth.

Get in touch with the Pure Smiles team for a consultation to assess your oral health and learn more about caring for your teeth and gums.