Maintaining proper oral hygiene ensures healthy gums and teeth. However, often a poor choice of foods can ruin your Hoefforts in teeth protection. Since foods and beverages directly interact with your teeth, it contributes to your teeth health. The wrong choice of food can cause extensive damage to teeth by forming plaque or sticky bacteria that causes tooth decay and gum disease. After you eat any food containing sugars, it reacts with the bacteria and releases acids that attack the tooth enamel. It can break down the enamel and form cavities. Children in the age group of 6 to 19 years are most susceptible to cavities, one of the most chronic dental diseases.
To prevent plaque build-up that can damage your teeth, it is not just enough to maintain good oral hygiene by regular brushing and flossing. Be selective in avoiding the harmful ones, like some of those mentioned in this article and endorsed by some Brisbane dental experts.
- Bread
When bread enters your mouth and mixes with the saliva as you chew it, its ingredients like starch and sugars start breaking down. Soon it forms a gummy and paste-like substance and the breadsticks between the gaps and crevices in the teeth. If allowed to stay, it can lead to cavities. To maintain your carbohydrate intake, choose whole=wheat, which is less refined as it contains fewer sugars.
- Sour candies
Candies are bad for your oral health, and worse are sour candies that contain many different and tough acids that are incredibly harmful to your teeth. The spongy confections facilitate prolonged chewing and allow the food particles to stick to the teeth for a longer time, thereby increasing the possibilities of decay. To maintain your craving for sweets, munching chocolates is a better option because as involves less chewing, and you can wash it away quickly.
- Carbonated drinks
It will be a mistake to trust even faintly the health aspects of carbonated drinks when it comes to carbonated beverages. If you regularly consume carbonated drinks or soda, you are doing massive damage to your teeth, just as you could harm your health by taking cocaine or methamphetamines. Carbonated drinks produce more harmful acids inside the mouth by reacting with bacteria and damages the teeth enamel first and then runs deeper. Moreover, soda reduces saliva secretion, dries your mouth, and coloured sodas stain and discolour your teeth. Be careful that brushing your tooth soon upon consuming carbonated drinks speeds up decay.
- Alcohol
Almost everyone knows the ill health effects of alcohol, but few people realize that you experience dry mouth upon drinking. Lack of saliva in the mouth hastens the process of tooth decay. Saliva protects your mouth by washing away food particles and preventing them from sticking to the teeth. It even helps prevent gum disease, tooth decay, and other oral infections. To keep your mouth hydrated, use oral rehydration solutions and fluoride rinses and drink plenty of water.
- Citrus
Grapefruits, lemons, and oranges are rich sources of vitamin c, and these tasty fruits make it an ideal choice for juices. However, these contain acids that can erode teeth enamel and increase the chances of decay. Moreover, acids in citrus can worsen mouth ulcers. Quick washing of mouth after consuming citrus in any form is the way to prevent decay.
- Ice
Ice is harmless for your teeth, but only if you avoid chewing it because, according to the American Dental Association, the hardness of ice can damage your teeth by chipping it away or even break it and loosen crowns. Avoid chewing ice to prevent teeth damage.
- Dried fruits
Dried fruits might be a healthy snack, but it is not good for your teeth, especially raisins, apricots, figs, and prunes because of its sticky nature. The stick and cling to the teeth and crevices, thereby exposing the teeth to lots of sugars. After eating such dry fruits, rinse your mouth with water and brush and floss after every incident.
- Potato chips
Potatoes are storehouses of starch. And potato chips, despite being endearing to most people due to its taste and crunchiness, are not good for your teeth. Sugar from potatoes damages teeth, and minimizing or stopping its intake will protect your teeth.
These are some of the food to avid if you want healthy teeth.
Autobiography
Eric Reyes is a passionate thought leader having been featured in 50 distinguished online and offline platforms. His passion and knowledge in Finance and Business made him a sought after contributor providing valuable insights to his readers. You can find him reading a book and discussing current events in his spare time.