Preventative Dental Care: Nutritional Tips

If you are new to preventative dental care, you may not know the importance of taking care of your teeth. It is easy to become overwhelmed with all the advice available for toothpaste and dental floss, but there are a few simple things that will go a long way in helping to prevent problems down the road. We have compiled some nutritional tips for preventing oral health issues below.

Vitamins and minerals

One of the most important things is to keep your teeth in good general health. Ensure you get enough vitamins and minerals in your diet for healthy bones, skin, hair, nails, and gums. This means eating fruit like oranges or berries with their vitamin C; vegetables like carrots with their beta-carotene; and whole grains with calcium, magnesium, and potassium. You can also take supplements if you find it challenging to eat enough fruit or vegetables every day.

Minimize sugar intake

Another significant factor in your preventative dental care is how much sugar you are eating every day. All the sugars that enter our bodies impact our teeth because they create acid when broken down inside the mouth. This acid can break down the tooth enamel, making it weak and more likely to decay. If you are prone to cavities or other preventative dental care problems, they will worsen in no time.

Limit carbohydrates

Carbohydrates like bread, crackers, and pasta release sugars into your bloodstream when they enter your body. Carbohydrates and sugars together in your diet can make a bad oral situation worse by creating more acid in the mouth. If you need to eat bread, try eating it with veggies or proteins instead of high sugar foods like jam or syrup, for example.

Be careful with alcoholic drinks

Drinking plenty of water is also good because your saliva will be too thick and sticky to keep the acids in check if you are dehydrated. Alcoholic drinks, especially red wine or beer, can also wear down enamel over time because of their acidity—the same is true for fruit juices that contain a lot of natural sugars like grape juice.

Reduce snacking

Finally, it would be best if you considered reducing the number of snacks you eat throughout the day. However, it is still essential to keep your energy up, so we recommend grains and fruit as healthy snack options to get in some nutrients without putting too much pressure on teeth with acidic foods like crackers or candies that can hurt enamel.

Avoid tobacco

If you smoke or chew tobacco, we recommend quitting. Tobacco is terrible for your oral health because it dries out the mouth and causes gums to recede over time. It also releases a lot of sugar into saliva that can get trapped between teeth where bacteria love to grow. If this happens on top of an existing cavity, it can cause a secondary infection to set in that will need treatment from your dentist.