Proper Nutrition for Oral and Dental Health

What you consume affects the health of your teeth and gums as well as your general health. You can protect your oral and dental health by eating right. Although there is a risk of losing your teeth accidentally (e.g. by impact), most of the time tooth loss occurs due to tooth decay caused by malnutrition.

Tooth Decay

If you eat a lot of sugary foods/drinks, you are at direct risk for tooth decay. As you might expect, tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease, but today it is possible to prevent tooth decay altogether.

Tooth decay occurs when the acid formed when dental plaque comes into contact with sugar penetrates the tooth. Therefore, we should brush our teeth regularly to prevent sugary foods from staying in our mouths for a long time. For more detailed information on tooth decay, click here.

Proper Nutrition Recommendations for Your Oral and Dental Health

• Drink plenty of water.
• Choose fresh seasonal vegetables, such as dark green and orange vegetables.
• Eat grains, eat grain products. Including oats, bulgur, wholemeal bread.
• Try to eat as many different types of fruits in season as you can.
• Choose fish and legumes for protein.
• Consume fluids and food to balance our sugar intake
• Eat low-fat or fat-free foods
• Avoid or reduce alcohol intake
• Be physically active and try to maintain your ideal weight

9 Foods and Drinks That Damage Your Teeth

• Beware of hard candies (lollipops, etc.)! Made of sugar and hard in texture (we know you chew them after a while!), it’s no surprise that they top the list of foods that are enemies of your teeth. If you have this tendency, we can recommend sugar-free gum.
• Ice is for cooling, not chewing . Although ice contains 0 water and does not pose a threat to your teeth, its hardness can lead to tooth fractures that will require emergency intervention when you least expect it.
• Beware of citrus fruits. If citrus fruits are consumed too often and not cleaned properly, the acidic nature and fruit sugar can cause tooth decay. By drinking plenty of water when you eat citrus fruits, you can minimize the acid and fruit sugar from staying on the teeth.
• Coffee In their natural state, tea and coffee are healthy beverage choices. However, the added sugar provides the basis for tooth decay, and the caffeinated coffee causes dry mouth. If this is an indispensable habit for you, remember to drink plenty of water after your tea/coffee.
• Sticky sugary foods (= dried fruits). When people choose healthy junk food, dried fruits come first. But most dried fruit has a sticky sugary texture. Therefore, they stay on your teeth for a long time, making them more dangerous than regular fruit. When you eat dried fruit, brush your teeth and gargle as soon as possible.
• Beware of “crunchy” foods! Who doesn’t like potato chips, for example? But unfortunately potato chips are full of starch, and this starch sticks to your teeth. Don’t forget to gargle to make sure you get rid of the sugar on your teeth from the starch.
• Mix soda with water, not fruit. Because of its acidic nature, soda is a natural threat to your teeth. Adding fruit flavoring to it only means more threat to your teeth. By diluting your soda with water, you can get a soda that is both easy to drink and has diluted acidity. Try it!
• Avoid or limit alcohol . Alcohol causes dehydration, leading to dry mouth. In people who drink alcohol frequently, salivary fluid decreases over time. This leads to tooth decay and various oral health problems. Gum disease, for example, is one of them. High alcohol consumption increases the risk of oral cancer.
• Beware of sports drinks! Although they may look healthy, sugar is the main ingredient in most sports drinks and energy drinks. Check the sugar content of the drink of your choice, if there is a sugar-free version, it is preferable. Our recommendation is “water”, the best and healthiest sports drink.

In summary, eating right means protecting your teeth from sugary and acidic foods. You can reduce the effect by drinking plenty of water after such foods. Afterwards, you can protect your oral health by brushing your teeth and gargling as soon as possible.