One of the best ways you can get, & keep, your mouth healthy is to eat a well-balanced diet & choose smile-healthy foods. At our dental offices in Cherry Hill, Gibbsboro, & Linwood, we’d like to educate you about how the foods you eat can contribute to great oral health & 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 & carbs into acids. It’s these acids that can cause some serious tooth damage. Acids attack the enamel & can lead to cavities. Not only that, the more often you snack throughout the day, the more acid is produced & 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, & vegetables everyday for your overall wellness. However, when thinking about smile-friendly foods, there are few your dentist in Cherry Hill, Gibbsboro, or Linwood would like to highlight.
The rules of foods for a healthy mouth are easy to follow & are pretty straightforward. Some of the best food choices include cheese, chicken or other lean meats, & nuts. High in calcium & phosphorus, these foods can both protect tooth enamel & give teeth what they need to remineralize & become stronger.
Additional food choices that are great for your mouth are crunchy fruits & vegetables. Celery, apples, & pears, for example, have high water content & can stimulate the flow of saliva. Foods containing a lot of water tend to lessen the effects of sugars & carbs in the mouth, & the production of saliva helps wash away particles & fight against acid – both useful in protecting teeth against decay.
What to Avoid
Eating acidic food like citrus fruit, tomatoes, & 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 & can decrease the damage that acid causes.
Other poor food choices include the obvious culprits like candy, cookies, cakes, pies, pretzels, & 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 our Cherry Hill, Gibbsboro, & Linwood dental offices can not only help keep your mouth healthy, they can help keep your whole body healthy too. With more & more systemic health problems like diabetes & 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 Cherry Hill, Gibbsboro, & Linwood.
