16

Apr

By eating sugary, highly processed, fatty, and fried foods, you not only become obese but also increase your risk of developing dental health issues, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Having shining, beautiful, and healthy teeth requires more than routine oral hygiene. Taking care of your oral health is more manageable with a proper diet. Proper dieting habits considerably impact your mouth’s dental condition, from supporting the tooth’s enamel to nurturing a flourishing oral microbiome. So, what are the best foods and beverages for maintaining healthy teeth and gums? Please read this article to learn more.

How Apples Can Improve Your Dental Health

Apples are delicious and healthy for your teeth and gut. Although they contain elements of natural sugar, they are nutrient-rich and contain polyphenols (antioxidants that control your mouth’s free radicals and diminish plaque buildup).

The apple's fiber helps eliminate supra-gingival plaque from forming on your teeth. However, they work best when you consistently practice good oral hygiene.

They also have water properties, providing hydration and encouraging salivary production.

Ensure you eat raw apples rather than drinking apple juice. The high malic and apple juice sugar content could lead to dental decalcification and erosion.

Your Teeth Become Healthier When You Eat Carrots

Carrots are fibrous, great at cleaning your gums and teeth, and have less sugar than fibrous fruits. Carrots also have vitamin A and vitamin C, which are suitable for healthy bones and improve your gum’s health, respectively.

Uncooked carrots are an excellent option for individuals who long for a crunch. Eating raw carrots also means you receive the benefits they offer.

Eating Nuts Can Keep Your Oral Health Healthy

Nuts have the proper nutrients to enhance oral health by keeping your teeth healthy and strong. They have many benefits, including fighting bacteria that cause tooth cavities.

Nuts also contain essential nutrients, like vitamins E, D, B6, zinc, and iron, to name a few. For example, peanuts provide the proper calcium amounts, which protect against enamel loss caused by acid erosion due to excessive brushing and sugar consumption without adequate water intake.

Cashew nuts stimulate saliva production, while walnuts provide you with fiber, among other nutrients necessary for a healthy mouth.

Nuts are an ideal snack for any day since they provide protein and strengthen your teeth. You can sprinkle or mix them into salad dressings, appetizers, or side dishes.

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are essential for ensuring superb overall health, which makes them an integral component of every healthy diet.

Your teeth can significantly benefit from vital nutrients like folic acid, vitamin B, calcium, and fiber that only fruits and leafy greens can offer, promoting long-term oral health. These beneficial foods encourage the generation of saliva that cleans your mouth and strengthens the tooth enamel.

If you love sweet drinks and foods but are afraid of increasing your risk of cavities and tooth decay, consider replacing candy and chocolate with healthy sweet treats. Fruits like apples, for instance, will satisfy your sugar cravings and provide many vitamins and fibers.

Bananas are a great source of oxalic acids, which soothe teeth sensitivity. Banana peel is rich in minerals like manganese, magnesium, and potassium. Gently run the peel against your teeth for three minutes before rinsing thoroughly. These minerals will be absorbed into your teeth' surface to whiten and brighten them.

Consider Eating Dark Chocolate

When bacteria convert sugars into acids, you risk suffering from tooth decay. The acid will eat up your teeth’s surface, causing cavities, decay, and deterioration. However, you can avoid this by monitoring your intake of sugary foods and cleaning your teeth after drinking and eating sugary drinks and foods, respectively.

You should consider dark chocolate when it comes to keeping your teeth cavity-free and healthy. Dark chocolate has three types of antioxidants, each improving dental health differently. They include:

  • Tannins — Prevent bacteria from adhering to your teeth.
  • Flavonoids — Reduce tooth decay.
  • Polyphenols — It reduces the number of bad-breath-causing microorganisms. Additionally, it reduces the risk of gum disease and decay.

The antioxidants also offer many benefits; dental health directly affects overall health. Therefore, the general health advantages mean healthier teeth.

Dark chocolate contains 70% cocoa, 30% sugar, and powdered milk. It significantly reduces the potential harm to your enamel compared to milk chocolate. That means looking for bars with more than 70% cocoa is advisable. Dark chocolate contains less sugar than most forms of chocolate. However, if you purchase two identical chocolate bars with the same cocoa percentage, select the one with less sugar.

The recommended daily intake amount is about one to two ounces. You might be taking in too many calories by eating more than that. You should not replace food with this treat.

The Relationship Between Green Tea and Your Oral Health

Green tea differs from conventional black tea because the leaves it is manufactured from have not oxidized. Consequently, it is a lighter-tasting and better-tasting beverage with numerous wellness advantages. Regarding oral health, the antioxidants in the drink offer many other benefits.

Antioxidants are natural compounds that fight toxins within your body that can damage your cells. They reduce the harmful impact of the body's inflammatory response. Inflammation from health conditions, like heart disease, can lead to swelling and irritation, affecting different body parts. Gum disease has identical effects, but antioxidants can assist with symptoms like gum bleeding, soreness, and bleeding.

Your dentist can also recommend green tea as a preventative periodontal care.

While gum teeth can help maintain healthy gums, you should be cautious about your smile; green tea can cause lasting dental damage. Your enamel can absorb tannins in the green tea, leaving stains on your teeth surface. The discoloration will not disappear with your oral hygiene routine, so watch out for symptoms of staining or yellowing.

Additionally, green tea might have added sugar to improve its flavor, which can increase your risk of dental cavities.

Garlic Can Ease Pain from Toothache

Tooth decay, infection, teeth grinding, aggressive flossing, and cavities are some causes of toothache. Irrespective of the reason, a toothache can be uncomfortable, and you must seek relief fast. While you should schedule a dental visit immediately, there are home remedies that can alleviate the pain as you await. One remedy is garlic.

Garlic contains allicin, which has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties that can kill bacteria related to toothaches.

If you do not have fresh garlic, you can be tempted to use garlic powder to alleviate the toothache. Nevertheless, garlic powder does not have allicin. The antibacterial compound is not found in whole garlic but is created when you crush, chew, chop, or slice the cloves.

While garlic is a healthy food, you should know of the following potential side effects before using it at home:

  • Bad breath.
  • Bloating.
  • Upset stomach.
  • Allergic reactions.
  • Acid reflux.
  • Body odor.

Here are different ways to use garlic to ease your toothache:

Chewing a Garlic Clove

  • Gently chew a peeled garlic clove using your affected tooth.
  • Allow the clove to rest on your tooth.

Making a Paste

  • Crush garlic with a mortar and then mix it with salt. The mixture is antibacterial and can reduce inflammation.
  • Next, apply your mixture to your affected tooth with a cotton swab or fingers.

Oil Pulling with Coconut Oil Can Transform Your Oral Health

Oil pulling involves swishing oil around your mouth, like mouthwash. It is an ancient Indian remedy.

Coconut oil is absorbable and has numerous health advantages, including the following:

  • It kills harmful bacteria in your mouth — Your mouth has a lot of bacteria. While some are friendly, others are not. The bacteria in the mouth create plaque, a thin biofilm layer on your teeth. While plaque on your teeth is normal, if left unaddressed, it can result in gum disease, bad breath, cavities, and gum inflammation.
  • Improves gum health and reduces inflammation — The bacteria in plaque can cause gingivitis, which contributes to bleeding gums, swelling, redness, and inflammation.
  • Reduces the possibility of developing cavities.

How to Effectively Do an Oil Pull

Here are steps to do your oil pull:

  1. Place a tablespoon of coconut oil in your mouth.
  2. Standing or sitting upright, swish the coconut oil around your mouth for fifteen to twenty minutes. If having the oil in your mouth is challenging, begin with ten minutes and gradually increase the duration.
  3. After you are done, avoid swallowing the coconut oil. Instead, spit into your trash can. Spitting into your toilet or sink can result in clogging over time.
  4. Finally, brush your teeth.

Eggs Can Improve Your Dental Health

While eggs contain cholesterol, they can benefit your oral health, provided you eat them in moderation.

Eggs contain Vitamin D. For your body to absorb calcium, it must have vitamin D. Although you can acquire vitamin D from sunlight, eggs do not expose you to ultraviolet light.

Eggs also contain selenium, which heals oral ulcers and lesions.

The protein in eggs ensures your teeth are healthy and promotes mucosal tissue development.

On top of serving eggs sunny side up, boiling them, and adding them to your protein drinks, you can also include them in your potato salads.

Dental Advantages of Celery

Celery is commonly overlooked when protecting dental health and maintaining a healthy diet.

It is a crunchy vegetable rich in antioxidants and high in water content. Its crunchy nature is an attribute that makes it suitable for your teeth. When crunching on the celery stick, your teeth break the fibers so you can swallow them. The process stimulates saliva production, which is your teeth’s natural cleansing mechanism. When the celery scraps against the teeth, it removes food particles and loosens the bacteria that cling to the teeth.

Other benefits include the following:

  • It contains essential vitamins for your gums and teeth — Vitamin A helps cells regenerate effectively and maintains a healthy mucous membrane that coats the gums, reducing your vulnerability to diseases. Vitamin C keeps your gums healthy and is vital for cell growth and tissue repair. People with vitamin C deficiency are more prone to gum disease development. Vitamin K prevents blood clots and assists wound recovery and the transportation of calcium throughout the body, strengthening your bones and teeth.
  • Its anti-inflammatory properties can be an excellent natural remedy for soothing swollen and sore gums related to gum disease.
  • It contains cluster salts — Cluster salt is a subgroup of sodium that attacks viruses and pathogens that cause gum disease. It also has healing properties.

Dairy Products

Eating or drinking dairy products is an excellent option to strengthen your teeth.

The primary sources of milk are animals like goats and cows. Regular consumption of dairy products aids in preventing tooth cavities in the following ways:

  • Milk promotes saliva, which is helpful in the digestion of starches.
  • Milk’s neutral pH regulates mouth bacteria.
  • Dairy products contain casein proteins that coat your teeth, safeguarding them from cavities.
  • Milk’s phosphorus aids in maintaining tooth enamel.
  • Its calcium is essential in promoting strong bones and repairing damage to your bone tissues.

Other crucial advantages of dairy products include the following:

  • Vitamin-rich — Milk derived from animals is loaded with vitamin D and calcium.
  • Affordable — Regular milk is typically cheaper than milk alternatives and can be more accessible at your local store.
  • Allergy-free — Dairy products are the safest form of milk for lactose-tolerant individuals who are allergic to soy and nuts.

Dairy products are beneficial to your teeth but contain cholesterol and fat. Milk is also higher in calories than some other alternatives.

Seafood is Good for Your Teeth

Eating salmon and other fatty fish like tuna, mackerel, and sardines can help you have stronger teeth. These types of fish are rich in protein that strengthens the tooth structure and amino acids that alter your mouth’s pH, reducing the risk of developing cavities.

Seafood also assists you in absorbing the calcium your body requires to keep your teeth strong and regenerate tooth enamel.

Finally, the omega-3 in seafood can regulate inflammation and boost the health of your mouth’s connective tissue, protecting your oral health.

Bone Broth

Bone broth is a nutrient-rich broth made from fresh meat bone of almost any animal, provided the animal is raised humanely and healthily. The motive is to derive the nutritional value from the animal.

The benefits of making and using bone broth in many recipes lie in its nutrients. They include minerals like magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and calcium.

It also contains collagen. Collagen is found in teeth and connective tissues that keep teeth in place in the jawbone. In your teeth, collagen helps with stability and mineralization.

Moreover, collagen is crucial for boosting your teeth’s bone density. Your teeth sit securely in the jaw. Nevertheless, a deficient diet and age can reduce bone density and dwindle the connective tissues. As your tissues and jaw shrink away from your teeth, the teeth can become loose, making them more vulnerable to decay and damage.

Water is the Best Beverage for Your Teeth

Sipping water has many benefits to oral health, mainly if it is fluoridated. These benefits include the following:

Water Strengthens Your Oral Health

Drinking fluoridated water is the most affordable and accessible way to prevent cavities.

In 2011, Calgary, a Canadian city, stopped adding fluoride to its water. Later, scientists compared children with juveniles in the same age group in Edmonton, a city with fluoridated water, for years. The researchers discovered that children in Calgary had more cavities than those in Edmonton.

It Cleans the Mouth

While drinking soda, energy drinks, or juice can assist you in washing down food, they leave behind unwanted sugar. The decay-causing bacteria eat sugar and produce acids that wear away enamel.

On the other hand, water washes away food particles and debris that bacteria need. It also dilutes the acids the bacteria produce.

Water Prevents Dry Mouth

Saliva keeps your teeth strong and helps you swallow effortlessly. A dry mouth can increase your vulnerability to cavities when your saliva supply reduces. Drinking water reduces the risk as your dentist finds the most effective solution.

Eat Foods Rich in Fluoride

Fluoride is found in many products.

Meat products like lamb kidneys, pork shoulder, and pig liver have fluoride. You can also find this nutrient in fish and animal by-products like milk powder, cheddar cheese, and parmesan cheese.

Do not worry if you are not a lover of animal products. Many nuts, vegetables, and fruits are rich in fluoride. They include the following:

  • Oats.
  • Buckwheat.
  • Bran.
  • Rye.
  • Almonds.
  • Cashews nuts.
  • Walnuts.
  • Soy.
  • Spinach.
  • Oranges.
  • Grapefruits.
  • Potatoes.
  • Parsley.

Contact a Skilled Dentist Near Me

Good oral health goes beyond preventing cavities; it also involves caring for the bone that holds your teeth securely in the jaw, gums, tissues, and tongue. Like all body structures, your mouth requires nutrients to stay healthy and strong. At The Whittier Dentist, we offer comprehensive dental care and educate patients about how a well-balanced diet is essential in maintaining perfect dental health. With our vast range of dentistry services, including preventative, we can guide your journey to a healthy and beautiful smile. Since dental health is related to your overall health, we can help you prioritize it. We invite you to call our office at 562-632-1223 and start your journey to a healthy, bright smile.