2017: The Year of Teeth-Friendly Foods

Are you looking for a New Year’s Resolution? Promoting your dental health and eating foods that are teeth-friendly is a great way to start off the new year and encourage good habits. Prevention is the best way to keep your pearly whites white and dazzling. Though Art of Modern provides fillings, crowns and professional whitening it is important to actively avoid cavities and stains on your teeth and what you eat is a big part of that. Start off 2017 brushing, flossing and instilling the right eating habits to keep your smile white and shiny.
 

Enamel Eating, Cavity Inducing Foods

 
Citrus fruit contain Vitamin C and other nutrients and are good for your overall health, however, they can be harmful to your teeth. Grapefruit and lemon juice are very acidic and can erode the enamel in your tooth. Though grapefruit and lemon juice may be the worst options, orange juice is a healthy balance because it does not contain a lot of acid and many types of orange juice contain teeth-friendly calcium and vitamin D. If you are looking for a healthy balance, drink OJ, but avoid fruits with high acidity.
 
Chewy, stick candy, such as taffy or caramel, tend to stick to and between your teeth for a long time, which allows bacteria in our mouth to feed off of the sugar. This can lead to the dissolution of enamel, which causes cavities. Typically following the rule, the stickier the candy, the worse it will be for your teeth and even though the caramel candies can be tempting during the holiday season dessert plates, it is important to look for other teeth-friendly options.
 
Hard candy is another type of candy to avoid, it dissolves slowly giving bacteria more time to create harmful acid and typically the flavor of hard candy contains citric acid, which is another downside. Also, if you bite down and the candy hits your tooth the wrong way it can chip your teeth and that is a painful experience and repair process no one wants to endure.
 
Soda is another cavity inducer, with one of its main ingredients being sugar. However, people do not realize that there is also acids in soda that can be even more harmful to your teeth than the excessive amounts of sugar you consume while drinking it. Even if you drink sugar-free Diet coke, there is still acid that can erode enamel if you drink a lot of it.
 

Teeth-Friendly Foods

 
The same foods that are healthy for your body and well-being are also good for your teeth. Starting with the basics, water helps wash sugars and acid off your teeth. Water contains fluoride that helps protects your enamel from eroding and occurs naturally in water and most tap water.
 
Dairy is key to creating strong, healthy teeth. They contain calcium, which strengthens your tooth enamel and your bones. Milk and cheese are examples of dairy that can help make your teeth strong and contain the right type of protein that stabilizes and repairs tooth enamel.
 
Lastly, high-fiber vegetables, such as spinach and beans, are great for your teeth because they require a lot of chewing. Chewing generates saliva and the food itself scrubs against your teeth and literally cleans them off. You would not think as you are chewing on your spinach that your teeth are getting a nice cleaning, but next time chew thoroughly to give your teeth a little extra love.
 
Art of Modern Dentistry provides services from cosmetic dentistry to coming in for a routine cleaning and exam. We are here to help you, even if you eat a Jolly Rancher and chip your tooth, we will help get it fixed and make it as quick and painless as possible. Start off 2017 promoting your dental health, which in turn will help create a healthy lifestyle and instill good habits for the rest of your life.
 
Courtesy of: Health