One of the best ways you can get, and keep, your mouth healthy is to eat a well-balanced diet and choose smile-healthy foods. At my dental office in Sayville, we’d like to educate you about how the foods you eat can contribute to great oral health and your overall well being.
When you eat, your mouth goes through changes, starting the minute you take that first bite. While you’re eating, bacteria convert sugars and carbs into acids. It’s these acids that can cause some serious tooth damage. Acids attack the enamel and can lead to cavities. Not only that, the more often you snack throughout the day, the more acid is produced and the more your mouth is exposed to the danger of further decay.
What to Eat
Some of the best foods for your mouth are the same ones that are good for your body. The basic food pyramid can give you some great guidelines to follow to ensure you’re getting the right amount of dairy, protein, and vegetables everyday for your overall wellness. However, when thinking about smile-friendly foods, there are few your dentist in Sayville would like to highlight.
The rules of foods for a healthy mouth are easy to follow and are pretty straightforward. Some of the best food choices include cheese, chicken or other lean meats, and nuts. High in calcium and phosphorus, these foods can both protect tooth enamel and give teeth what they need to remineralize and become stronger.
Additional food choices that are great for your mouth are crunchy fruits and vegetables. Celery, apples, and pears, for example, have high water content and can stimulate the flow of saliva. Foods containing a lot of water tend to lessen the effects of sugars and carbs in the mouth, and the production of saliva helps wash away particles and fight against acid – both useful in protecting teeth against decay.
What to Avoid
Eating acidic food like citrus fruit, tomatoes, and lemons can add to the damage-causing acid. While you don’t have to avoid these tart favorites, they should be enjoyed as part of a larger meal as opposed to being consumed alone. Pairing acidic foods with larger meals helps minimize the amount of acid that actually reaches your teeth and can decrease the damage that acid causes.
Other poor food choices include the obvious culprits like candy, cookies, cakes, pies, pretzels, and dried fruits. With large amounts of sugar, these foods can fuel bacteria which will lead to tooth decay.
What Else Can You Do?
In addition to following a diet of smile-friendly foods, regular visits to my Sayville dental office can not only help keep your mouth healthy, they can help keep your whole body healthy too. With more and more systemic health problems like diabetes and heart disease being linked to oral health, keeping your regularly scheduled appointments is even more important. At these checkups, we’ll not only make sure your mouth is healthy, we’ll also make sure your body isn’t in any danger from oral health problems.
Serving patients in Sayville, Blue Point, and Bay Port.