Food To Keep Your Mouth Healthy and Happy

Prevention is the best medicine for your oral health. Although Bondi Dental offers treatments like fillings, crowns, and professional teeth whitening to make your teeth stronger and brighter, while improving your dental health as well, it’s better (and less expensive) to avoid dental issues in the first place, by brushing, flossing, and—often overlooked—eating a healthful diet.

The food we eat can have a big impact on our teeth, gums, tongue, and nearby bone structures.

And remember, when you eat a healthy diet you can still eat some “bad” foods, as they are mostly harmless in moderation – the key is to remain moderate!

Keeping Your Dental Health Optimal

Every piece of food or sip of drink you put into your mouth affects your dental health.

With so much focus on diets and healthy eating, why is it that we rarely discuss diet and dental health? The two are linked, and healthy eating habits help lead to healthy mouths.

Research shows that antioxidants and other nutrients found in fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts may strengthen immunity and improve the body’s ability to fight bacteria and inflammation, all of which can help protect the teeth and gums. And some foods and dietary habits even have distinct effects on the mouth’s ability to handle cavity-causing bacteria attacks.

The good news is that many of the foods that strengthen teeth are delicious! Add these tasty foods into your daily diet and your teeth will thank you.

For example:

• Calcium-fortified juices, milk and other dairy products are rich in calcium and vitamin D and help promote healthy teeth and bones, reducing the risk for tooth loss. Adding powdered milk to cooked dishes helps those who don’t like milk or cheese to get some of the calcium needed to protect teeth and jawbones.
• Cheese lets calcium loose that mixes with plaque and sticks to the teeth. This may sound icky, but it actually protects teeth from the acid that causes decay and helps to rebuild tooth enamel.
• Crisp fruits and raw vegetables, like apples, carrots and celery, help clean plaque from teeth and freshen breath.
• Water with fluoride: Fluoridated drinking water, or any product you make with it, helps your teeth. This includes powdered juices and dehydrated soups.
• Antioxidant vitamins, such as vitamin C,and other nutrients from fruits and vegetables help protect gums and other tissues from cell damage and bacterial infection.
• Recent studies indicate that fresh cranberries interrupt the bonding of oral bacteria before they can form damaging plaque.
• Folic acid promotes a healthy mouth and supports cell growth throughout the entire body. This member of the B vitamin family is found in green leafy vegetables and brewer’s yeast.
• Green and black teas: Tea suppresses bacteria, slowing down the processes responsible for tooth decay and gum disease. Just remember: Don’t add sugar to your tea, and as tea can stain brush after drinking it.

Timing Is Everything

A diet that promotes good oral health is not just about the foods you eat or avoid — when and how you eat them is equally important.

• Foods that take a long time to chew or that you hold in your mouth (particularly sugary foods like cough drops or hard candies) can damage teeth as they retain sugar in the mouth longer than do other foods.
• Instead of snacking on sugary, carbohydrate-rich or acidic foods throughout the day, eat these foods during meal times. This minimises the amount of time teeth are exposed to acid. In addition, the body produces more saliva to help digest larger meals, which washes away more food and helps neutralize harmful acids before they can attack teeth.

Chew Gum!

Chewing sugarless gum is good for your teeth. It helps dislodge food that becomes stuck to your teeth and also increases saliva flow. Some gums contain ingredients that can reduce cavities as well as heal areas on the teeth where cavities are beginning.

Foods to Avoid

• Sugary candies and sweets: If you eat sweets, go for those that pass through your mouth quickly, and brush after consuming them.
• Starchy, refined carbohydrates: Foods such as chips, bread, pasta or crackers can be as harmful to the teeth as candy.
• Carbonated soft drinks: Not only does regular soda contain a high amount of sugar, both regular and diet sodas also contain phosphorous and carbonation, which wear away the enamel on your teeth.
• Lemons, citrus fruits and other acidic foods: Avoid keeping these foods in your mouth for a long period of time as their acid nature can attack teeth.

The Bondi Dental Advantage

Bondi Dental is located in the Sydney area, at Bondi Beach. We offer high quality dental preventative, restorative, and cosmetic services for all patients in the region. Bondi Dental offers free parking at the rear of the building and FREE dental consultation including a complete dental check-up.

We are open 7 days a week 8am – 8pm!

Call your dentist Bondi Beach on (02) 9365 7187 or visit us at 134 Curlewis St in Bondi Beach.