Foods That Benefit Your Smile

Some of the worst foods for your teeth are still important to incorporate into your diet, as they provide vital nutrients to other parts of your body. How can you maintain a well-balanced diet, eat what you love, and keep your teeth protected all at once? We have put together a list of popular foods that require extra dental care after eating, the foods that have positive effects on your smile, and the steps you can take to keep your teeth protected from what you put on your plate this summer. 

What to Beware of:

• Citrus Fruits: While packed with essential vitamins, citrus fruits are extremely acidic and erosive to tooth enamel.
• Coffee: Stains from coffee are some of the toughest to remove from enamel, not to mention the deep stains hold on to extra bacteria, food, and particles.
• Crackers: The carbohydrates that make up this basic snack quickly convert to sugar and stick to the teeth with a glue-like texture, putting you at a higher risk for cavities and decay when proper cleaning doesn’t follow your snack break.
• Ice: You can still enjoy a cold beverage and fill your coolers with ice this summer, but chewing the ice damages tooth enamel and can cause cracks and breakage in already weakened teeth.
• Pickles and Pickled Vegetables: Pickled foods are loaded with vinegar sodium, which is extremely destructive on tooth enamel.
• Wine and Other Alcohol: The elements of happy hour tend to be some of the harshest on your teeth, and wine is unfortunately at the very top of the list. With tooth-discoloring pigments and tannins that cause dryness in the mouth, the lack of saliva flow can lead to a number of dental complications over time.

What to Eat More of:

• Cheese: Dairy products act as a neutralizer and can help lower acidity levels in your mouth.
• Strawberries: This tasty fruit contains malic acid, which carries natural enamel whitening effects to help lift stains left by other produce.
• Sugarless Gum: When chewed after meals, sugarless gum increases saliva production and helps to cleanse the mouth of bacteria build up and plaque.
• Tea: Components that are present in black and green teas help to slow down types of bacteria growth that are linked to cavities and oral diseases.

Preventative Tips

While it isn’t necessary, or realistic, to cut citrus fruits out of your diet and ward off summer sangrias completely, it’s still extremely important to take the proper preventative steps before and after your meals. If preventative measures are not taken, your pearly whites won’t remain so pearly.

Here are a few of the practices we recommend to our Serenity Dental patients for maintaining a clean and healthy grin every day of the year!

• Floss and brush regularly.
• Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
• Incorporate plenty of calcium into your diet to help strengthen tooth enamel.
• Don’t skimp on dental check-ups with your Woodbury Dentist.

Sources:

• LiveScience.com 
• Mouthhealthy.org
• Health.com