Have you ever wondered which foods are the best and which must be avoided for healthy teeth and gum? Many foods need to be avoided for healthy teeth, so stay tuned with us in this blog, where we’ll introduce you to some of the best foods that need to be avoided for healthy teeth.
What are the best foods to eat for your oral health?
There are multiple options to maintain your oral health. These foods contain all the good properties to maintain a bright and beautiful smile.
1. Water
Most of the saliva is water. When you’re thirsty, your saliva can get thicker, which is terrible for oral health.
The right amount of water in your saliva helps break down food, neutralizes bacterial acid (hello, fresh breath!), and keeps your teeth from decaying.
2. Oranges
Since oranges are a citrus food, this one might come as a surprise. Citrus, on the other hand, has vitamin C that makes blood vessels and joint tissue stronger. It also reduces inflammation, which slows the development of gum disease.
3. Fish
To keep your teeth and gums healthy, you should make sure you eat enough calcium. But if you don’t get enough vitamin D, your body won’t be able to use all that calcium. Fatty fish, like salmon, is a great way to get vitamin D. The calcium in your food can protect your teeth and gums from disease.
4. Cheese
Good news for people who enjoy a cheese board: cheese is the best food for teeth because it stops acid from wearing them down. Cheese is an excellent choice for dessert because it can help balance the acid that meals leave behind. Cheddars that are aged, blue cheeses like Roquefort, Gorgonzola, and Stilton, and soft cheeses like brie and camembert are all great for your teeth.
5.Fresh Fruits and Veggies
The next best food for teeth is fruits and veggies high in fiber. With all the fiber they have, they “scrub” your teeth in a way that your toothbrush might not, and the extra chewing they take makes you salivate more. Overall, salad greens are very healthy. Fruits and crunchy and juicy veggies also have a lot of water, which helps balance their sugar.
Read Also : 10 Ways to Keep Your Teeth Healthy
Top 8 Worst Foods for Your Oral Health
1. Sugary Drinks
A lot of sugar is in drinks like soda, fruit juice, sports drinks, and energy drinks. Acidic foods, even ones without sugar, can wear down the enamel on your teeth. These sugary drinks fill your mouth with acids that wear away the enamel on your teeth. They also dry your mouth, which stops saliva from cleaning your teeth and mouth.
Instead of these drinks with a lot of sugar, try water, tea, coconut water, bubbly water, or kombucha. Even though it’s best to limit these drinks, if you want one, drink it through a straw to keep your teeth from getting stained.
2. Hard and Chewy Candies
Not only do hard and sticky sweets stick to your teeth, but their high sugar content feeds germs. Because of how they’re made, they stick around in your mouth longer, which causes plaque production to last longer and makes damage and decay more likely.
This group includes gummy worms, caramels, jelly beans, hard sweets, and lollipops. As well as having a lot of sugar, sour sweets are more acidic, making them even worse. Stay away from these things or eat them in small amounts. If you want something sweet, you could choose an apple instead. Because they have a lot of fiber and can make saliva more alkaline, they can protect against the harmful effects of plaque.
3. Coffee
No matter how you drink it—black or with sugar—coffee is naturally acidic, damaging your teeth’ enamel. Tannins, found in coffee, are molecules that make color compounds stick to your teeth and stain and change their color. Adding sugar and creamers has the same effects as the sugary drinks above, so black coffee is a better choice.
Enjoying your daily coffee is still possible, but try drinking it through a straw and brushing your teeth right after.
4. Pickles
Foods high in vinegar are very acidic and can damage the enamel on your teeth, remove minerals, and color them. Pickled foods should only be eaten in small amounts because vinegar is an essential part of the process. To eliminate the effects of pickled foods, drink a lot of water or eat them with less acidic foods, like cheese.
5. Refined Carbohydrates
Because starch breaks down into sugar when eaten, processed foods high in starch are strongly linked to cavities and tooth decay. Starch like this can get stuck between your teeth and help make plaque. Some refined carbohydrates are crackers, potato chips, white bread, sweets and treats, white rice, cookies, cereal, sugar, agave syrup, high fructose corn syrup, pasta, and fake sugars.
As much as possible, switch these out for whole-grain options. If you eat processed starches, ensure they don’t stay on your teeth by flossing and brushing afterward.
6. Alcohol
Alcohol can make you make less saliva, which can dry out your mouth and make plaque more dangerous. Also, beer and wine are very acidic, damaging your teeth. Tannins, which can color your teeth, are found in both coffee and red wine. Because beer is acidic and contains malts and dark barley, it can make spots more likely. Other drinking drinks may have a lot of sugar, which feeds the loop of making plaque.
Before you drink alcohol that is high in tannins, brush your teeth so that the alcohol doesn’t stick to your teeth as much. Also, drink much water to stay hydrated and clean your mouth. If you brush your teeth right away, the acid from the alcohol could get into your teeth.
7. Ice
Ice is mostly water, so the water itself isn’t bad for your teeth, but how it feels can be. If you chew on ice, your teeth could get broken, chipped, or cracked. It can also hurt enamel and make your caps loose. Don’t chew ice at all if you want to avoid this problem.
8. Apple Cider Vinegar
As was already said, vinegar is very acidic and can wear away your enamel, which makes your teeth more likely to get cavities and other problems. Drinking apple cider vinegar alone can wear away at your enamel, leaving your teeth vulnerable to damage and decay. To lessen these effects, mix this food with water before eating it.
Maintain Healthy Teeth with Dental Cleaning in Darien, IL
Maintaining healthy teeth rituals can take time; therefore, we suggest involving such habits as soon as possible. One of the most accessible procedures for healthy teeth is cosmetic dentistry procedure.
At Cass Dental Care, we help patients of all ages maintain healthy oral gum with proper guidelines to follow. Our services include deep cleaning & scaling, emergency dental care, pediatric dentistry, complete & partial dentures, oral surgery, and more.
So, if you are searching for a dentist in Darien, Dr. Neel Goyal and his team are the best choice for oral health.
Contact us today! Schedule an appointment with an expert to learn about the best and the worst food for healthy teeth.