Sugary and starchy foods literally feed the bacteria that eat away at your enamel and cause cavities.
When it’s metabolized it becomes acid that attacks your teeth, causing tooth decay and gum disease.
But It’s not as simple as avoiding all sweets — fruits can be huge culprits, too. And actually dark chocolate isn’t so bad, since it contains flavonoids, polyphenols, and tannins, which promote dental health. Things that don’t harm your teeth as much include cheeses and dairy, which rinse off easily, and non-acidic vegetables and meat.
The more times you eat during the day without brushing in between, the faster decay will happen.
It is not just what you eat, but how often you eat that influences teeth decay. Every time you eat, you create an environment for bacteria to attack your teeth because they also eat that food residue and produce acid.
If you are snacking all day — or sipping on that big iced coffee — you are hardly giving your teeth a rest from little acid attacks. Instead, stick to a normal four-meal schedule and finishing sugary drinks or coffee within 30 minutes, then switching to water.A chip in your teeth, no matter how small, is super vulnerable to tooth decay.
When the tooth chips, the dentin — a softer bone-like tissue that covers root — becomes exposed. Unlike enamel, which is our tooth’s natural defense against decay, dentin will rapidly decay when bacteria gets inside the chipped part of the tooth. Even if the chip is tiny, do not ignore it — get it fixed right away or else it will become 10 times worse.
If you don’t get fluoride from water or toothpaste, you risk getting 20-40% more cavities.
There is a lot of debate about fluoride, but researchers have proven that fluoride prevents decay. The best way to get fluoride is ingesting it in water because it gets in your bloodstream and works from inside the tooth — it is nature’s cavity fighter.
Ingesting fluoride and using fluoride toothpaste or rinses has been proven to reduce up to 40% of tooth decay.If you have kids, make sure to pass these cleaning habits along ASAP, because dental decay is one of the most common chronic childhood illnesses.
Dental decay is about five times more common than asthma in children. It is considered a chronic childhood illness because poor dental hygiene habits at a young age can lead to serious tooth decay, gum disease, and bone or tissue loss in the future.
Poor dental health can affect your overall health, too.
Gum disease, cavities, and tooth loss are obviously painful and uncomfortable conditions, but losing any kind of function of your teeth also makes eating and using your mouth more difficult. There has been research that links gum disease and low-birth weight babies, and some studies which show a connection between gum disease bacteria and heart disease. Overall, having a healthy mouth and teeth is critical to having good health in general.
And even if you take great care of your teeth, you still need to see a dentist regularly.
Even if you are a fabulous brusher and flosser and it looks like you have amazing teeth, most of us are not perfect. Dentists can see a lot of things you cannot including the inside of your teeth with X-rays and more importantly, they can help you address your own needs.
Everyone is different and requires a somewhat unique cleaning routine or products depending on their problems. Schedule you dental visit today to find what you should be doing to keep your smile and yourself healthy.Reference: BuzzFeed; Nylaan Dental
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| Brian S. Nylaan, D.D.S. |
