Good nutrition and healthy eating habits are essential to maintaining optimal oral and overall health. The food and beverage choices you make have a direct effect on the health of your entire body. Each time a sugary snack or beverage is consumed, the sugar, along with the bacteria in your mouth, bathe your teeth in harmful acids that attack your teeth for at least twenty minutes. Each bite or sip brings on another acid attack. After repeat attacks, teeth are susceptible to tooth decay.
While it’s important to eat a variety of nutritious foods from the five major food groups grains, dairy, fruits, vegetables and meat/poultry/fish, it’s not necessary to throw out everything in your pantry that contains sugar. Almost all foods, including milk and vegetables, contain some form of sugar, and many offer key nutrients that are part of a well-balanced diet. Instead of cutting out sugar from your diet altogether, one should read the labels on foods and beverages and set a goal to reduce those that contain added sugars, such as soft drinks, candy and cookies. Soda, whether regular soda containing sugar or diet sugar-free soda, is high in acid content and contributes to the erosion of enamel. The enamel layer which covers the outer surface of teeth is the hardest substance in the body and normally protects the inside of the tooth by acting as a barricade.
Also we should be limiting snacking between meals. Foods eaten as part of a meal cause less harm to your teeth because more saliva is released during mealtime. Saliva naturally protects our teeth and helps to wash food particles from your mouth, lessening the acid build up that leads to tooth decay.
When you need a snack, make nutritious choices, such as fruit, raw vegetables, cheese, plain yogurt or other snacks that are low in sugar. Instead of soda, choose healthy beverages, such as water or milk.
Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. Floss daily to help remove plaque, the sticky film of bacteria, which gets stuck between your teeth and gums.
Schedule regular checkups with your dentist at least every six months to help prevent problems from occurring and detect possible problems in their early stages.
