The Best Foods and Drinks Good for Your Teeth
Those starchy or sugary foods we love are also loved by the bacteria in your mouth that can cause tooth decay and gum disease.
The difference between a healthy smile and frequent visits to the dentist has a lot to do with your diet. Even with a good oral hygiene routine (brushing twice a day, flossing once a day), it can still be hard to keep your teeth healthy over the long term.
Eating a variety of nutrient-rich foods from all the food groups promotes healthy teeth and gums. This means maintain a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, protein foods, calcium-rich foods and whole grains for a healthy smile as well as a healthy body.
Some of the best foods for healthy teeth are fresh fruits and veggies because of their high nutritional value and added teeth cleaning benefits. Then, there’s calcium-rich foods, such as low-fat or fat-free milk, yogurt and cheese, fortified soy drinks, tofu, canned salmon, almonds and dark green leafy vegetables that help promote strong teeth and bones.
Chewing on crunchy foods gets the saliva going, which along with water, helps to wash away plaque causing bacteria and food particles.
To prevent cavities and maintain good oral health, your diet — what you eat and how often you eat — are important factors. Changes in your mouth start the minute you eat certain foods.
Bacteria in the mouth convert sugars and carbohydrates from the foods you eat to acids, and it’s the acids that begin to attack the enamel on teeth, starting the decay process. The more often you eat and snack, the more frequently you are exposing your teeth to the cycle of decay.
Mouth-Healthy Foods and Drinks
The best food choices for the health of your mouth include cheeses, chicken or other meats, nuts, and milk. These foods are thought to protect tooth enamel by providing the calcium and phosphorus needed to remineralize teeth (a natural process by which minerals are redeposited in tooth enamel after being removed by acids).
For those people that are lactose intolerant and cannot ingest milk products, green vegetables such as broccoli and spinach are high in calcium.
Other food choices include firm/crunchy fruits (for example, apples and pears) and vegetables. These foods have a high water content, which dilutes the effects of the sugars they contain, and stimulate the flow of saliva (which helps protect against decay by washing away food particles and buffering acid). Acidic foods, such as citrus fruits, tomatoes, and lemons, should be eaten as part of a larger meal to minimize the acid from them.
Poor food choices include candy — such as lollipops, hard candies, and mints — cookies, cakes, pies, breads, muffins, potato chips, pretzels, french fries, bananas, raisins, and other dried fruits.
These foods contain large amounts of sugar and/or can stick to teeth, providing a fuel source for bacteria. In addition, cough drops should be used only when necessary as they, like sugary candy, contribute to tooth decay.
The best beverage choices include water (especially fluoridated water), milk, and unsweetened tea. Limit your consumption of sugar-containing drinks, including soft drinks, lemonade, and coffee or tea with added sugar.
Also, avoid day-long sipping of sugar-containing drinks — day-long sipping exposes your teeth to constant sugar and, in turn, constant decay-causing acids.
Sugar Substitutes and Sugar-Free Products
Sugar substitutes are available that look and taste like sugar; however, they are not digested the same way as sugar, so they don’t “feed” the bacteria in the mouth and therefore don’t produce decay-causing acids. They include: erythritol, isomalt, sorbitol, and mannitol.
Other sugar substitutes that are available in the U.S. include saccharin, advantame, aspartame (marketed as Equal), acesulfame potassium (marketed as Sunett), Neotame (marketed as Newtame), and sucralose (marketed as Splenda).
Sugarless or sugar-free food sometimes simply means that no sugar was added to the foods during processing. However, this does not mean that the foods do not contain other natural sweeteners, such as honey, molasses, evaporated cane sugar, fructose, barley malt, or rice syrup. These natural sweeteners contain the same number of calories as sugar and can be just as harmful to teeth.
Cheese, Milk, and Yogurt
Cheese is one of the best foods for healthy teeth for a number of reasons. First, it is low in sugar and high in calcium. It contains casein, which is a protein that is particularly useful for fortifying tooth enamel. Cheese is high in calcium, which is important for maintaining bone density.
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Cheese is also high in phosphate content, which helps balance pH levels in the mouth, which helps to preserve tooth enamel. Another great reason cheese is a friend to our teeth is that chewing it increases saliva production, which helps to wash away bacteria in the mouth.
Aside from good old fashioned fluoridated water, milk is the best drink when it comes to your teeth. It’s rich in calcium and other important elements. Milk, like cheese, also lowers the acid levels in the mouth, which helps fighting tooth decay.
Yogurt is packed with calcium and probiotics that protect you against cavities, gum disease and even bad breath.
Water
Water is unlike any other drink, and is by far the healthiest drink available. Our bodies are made of 60% water, and staying hydrated helps your system distribute healthy nutrients, gets rid of waste, gives your skin a healthy glow and keeps your muscles moving.
And–drinking water really helps your teeth stay health – especially if it’s fluoridated. Drinking water with fluoride, which is “nature’s cavity fighter,” is one of the easiest and most beneficial things you can do to help prevent cavities. And, water helps wash away food particles and keeps your saliva levels high.
To determine if the sugarless or sugar-free foods you buy contain natural sweeteners, examine the ingredients label. Words that end in ‘-ose’ (like sucrose and fructose) usually indicate the presence of a natural sweetener. On the label, look under sugars or carbohydrates.
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Is Chewing Gum OK for Teeth?
Chewing sugarless gum is actually beneficial to your teeth as chewing helps dislodge food that becomes stuck to your teeth and also increases saliva flow to buffer (neutralize) mouth acids.
Some gums contain ingredients that can reduce cavities as well as heal areas on the teeth where cavities are beginning. Chewing gum can be a problem, however, if you have jaw pain or other issues with your jaw.
Teeth and Gum Care Tips
These are some basic tips for caring for teeth and gums:
- Brush your teeth regularly. Brush at least twice a day and preferably 30-60 minutes after every meal and snack.
- Use a fluoride-containing toothpaste.
- Floss at least once a day.
- Use a mouth rinse daily.
- Visit your dentist regularly for check-ups and cleanings — typically twice a year.
- Eat a variety of foods to maintain overall health. Eat fewer foods containing sugars and starches between meals. If you must snack, choose nutritious foods, such as cheese, raw vegetables, plain yogurt, or a firm fruit (such as an apple).