Top Tooth-Damaging Food and Drink Part 1

The set of teeth that we have after our baby teeth is the only set we have.  Unlike any other bone in your body, your teeth can’t heal themselves or be cast to fuse back together, which means that we have to be vigilant in our dental care.  Some of the consequences of not following a proper teeth cleaning and management routine can include having removable dentures fitted for rotting teeth, or painful root canals having to be performed.  In order to prevent these consequences, make sure that you take good care of your teeth, starting with the foods you eat. The food you eat can have a larger effect on your oral health that you realize.

• Sour Candies
  • We all know that eating too much candy is never a good idea for our oral and physical health, but not all candies are created equal. Sour candies are some of the most harmful to your teeth. They contain more acids than traditional candy, are usually chewy and stick to your teeth, and are more abrasive, which means that they wear your enamel down fast. If you decide to indulge your sweet tooth, make sure to choose a candy that’s easy on the teeth, like a small square of dark chocolate, and brush afterwards.
• Alcohol
  • While science has told us in recent years that a small glass of red wine might have some heart-healthy benefits, no one thinks that regular drinking is a healthy habit. Besides the after-effects of alcohol, there is one often-overlooked side effect: dry mouth.  When your mouth is dried out, you don’t have enough saliva, which is a necessary part of having healthy teeth. Saliva can repair early stages of tooth decay, oral infection, and gum disease.  Keep your mouth healthy by keeping it hydrated.
• Citrus Fruits
  • Fruit is often thought of as a healthy way to keep your body nourished, but you should keep in mind that not everything about fruit is good for your mouth. Oranges and other citrus are good sources of Vitamin C, but they are also good sources of enamel-eroding acid.  Oranges are actually the lowest in this acid, while its more sour friends, lemons and pineapples, are some of the most acidic. So next time you consider squeezing a lemon in your water, think about the acid wash your teeth might be getting. Limit your citric fruit consumption, and make sure to drink water to wash out the acids.
• White Bread
  • It’s a sad fact of life that most of the things we like to eat contain more sugar than we realize, and bread is no exception. Bread is commonly known as a carbohydrate, but did you know that carbohydrates are, at their most basic level, just varying types of sugar? When you eat bread, the enzymes in your saliva break down the carbohydrates and starch into sugar. This gets stuck in your teeth, and can cause tooth decay. There are healthier options that you can look at if you don’t want to stop eating bread altogether, like whole grain and whole wheat breads.
• Dried Fruit
  • While you now know that citric acid in fruits is bad for your teeth, any form of dried fruit isn’t good for your teeth either. Dried fruit, when chewed, often becomes sticky, and sticky food is one of the highest causes of tooth decay. Fruit is high in natural sugars, and while dried fruit does have lower levels of sugar than the fresher versions, make sure to brush and floss to make sure there are no traces of it left in your teeth.

Make sure that you continue reading about the harmful effects that our top tooth-damaging food and drink can have on your smile. No one wants removable dentures prematurely, and we at Indy Family Dental will do all we can to help you keep your smile pearly white!