Avoiding Tooth Decay is About More than Avoiding Junk Food

Any medical professional you visit, whether it’s your family doctor or family dentist, can give you a long list of reasons to keep a healthy diet. And they can also give you an even longer list of reasons why. Poor diets full of empty carbs, sugars and fats cause problems from your head to your toes – tooth decay, lung problems, heart disease, stomach ulcers, diabetes, UTI’s – the list really is endless. But you might be surprised to find that soda, chips and candy aren’t the only foods that are hard on your tooth enamel. In fact, some superfoods a nutritionist might swear by are the same foods your family dentist will caution you about consuming in excess.

Five Foods You Might not Expect are Detrimental to Your Teeth:

• Ice: Drinking water is good for you, and ice is just water, right? Well, yes, but it’s frozen – it’s hard, and not meant for chewing. Chewing ice can easily damage your enamel and leave your teeth susceptible to bacteria and decay. Not to mention you may also cause enough structural damage to need chipped tooth repair. If you simply must continue your ice-snacking habit, try to suck on the ice instead of chewing it.
• Bread and crackers: Yes, even the fancy “9-grain” or “ancient grain” kinds. When you put starches in your mouth, your body immediately starts to break the carbs down into sugars. Sugars + mouth bacteria = acid that damages your tooth enamel.
• Fruits: Even fruits can be dangerous to the health of your teeth. The acid in citrus fruits can weaken your enamel, causing sensitivity or worse. And berries might cause issues, too. Their color – the very thing that makes them rich in antioxidants – can also badly stain your teeth if left alone too long.
• Pickles: While pickles are low-cal, making them a great snack for those who are dieting, the vinegar they’re soaked in means they carry a lot of acid in every crunch.
• Granola bars: We’re back to carbs that even nutrition buffs love. And fiber is great for you. But between the starch-to-sugar conversion and the added sugars in almost all granola bars you find at the store, these gut-healthy bars are definitely not mouth-healthy.

Ways to Combat Tooth Decay Between Dental Cleanings

Now, none of this is to say that you should never eat fruits and grains – both are part of a healthy diet. Just like we wouldn’t tell you to never eat another donut again. You can partake in the foods you love without causing your dentist worry at your next dental cleaning. But you still want to avoid enamel loss and plaque buildup that can cause toothaches, tartar buildup, cavities and worse. A few measures you can take to keep your teeth in top shape between dental cleanings (besides brushing and flossing) are:

• Drink lots of water, preferably fluoridated, especially during and after meals.
• Chew sugarless gum to keep up saliva production in your mouth.

Limit snacks between meals and try to eat sugars with meals instead of on their own.