What foods and drinks are good for your teeth?

15.09.2016

Author: Dentist-therapist Kuzub Yana Nikolaevna

To keep teeth healthy, both the general condition of the body, good hygiene, timely treatment, and the foods that the patient eats daily are important. Dentist-therapist at the Attribute Clinic, Yana Nikolaevna Kuzub, shares useful information about what foods and drinks are healthy, and what you should avoid to maintain a healthy smile.

WATER

Since the human body consists of more than half of water, it is logical to conclude that water is an important product for our body. Water is also good for dental health.

If you drink little water during the day (precisely water. Juices, soda, tea, coffee, soups do not count), among other negative consequences, you will experience a feeling of dry mouth. This means that not enough saliva is produced: a logical consequence of dehydration, because saliva is 98.5% water.

The composition of saliva includes mucins (no more than 0.5% of the total chemical composition of saliva). Due to them, saliva not only has viscosity and elasticity, but also prevents the formation of bacterial plaque, because blocks the proliferation of harmful microorganisms.

However, you need to know that saliva can harm your teeth if you like sweets. In this case, it will contain large amounts of glucose, as a result of which it will only harm tooth enamel.

In addition to the fact that the possibility of salivation that protects teeth depends on water, water helps to mechanically clean the oral cavity of food debris, plaque and acids harmful to tooth enamel.

Drinks that increase the risk of tooth decay

Sodas like Coca-Cola stain the surface of tooth enamel and destroy bone tissue in the body.
Tea helps wash out calcium and stains teeth, while coffee also promotes the growth of bacteria in the oral cavity.
Energy drinks destroy tooth enamel due to large amounts of acids.
Store-bought fruit juices contain large amounts of sugar.

You don’t have to completely give up all drinks, but you need to follow safety precautions when drinking them. For example, drink juices or tea through a straw to minimize contact with teeth.

VEGETABLES, FRUITS, BERRIES, GREENS

Everyone knows that vegetables, unsweetened fruits and greens should be an important part of every person’s diet in order to maintain the balance of vitamins, minerals and other beneficial microelements in the body.

However, fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs are important for dental health, as they provide essential vitamins and minerals.

It is important to focus your diet on carrots as a source of keratin, pumpkin, which can restore white teeth due to the selenium it contains, and greens, especially spinach, which is rich in calcium.

Vegetables and greens enrich saliva with minerals that are beneficial to the health of tooth enamel (phosphate, fluoride, calcium).

It is important to understand that minerals are “leached” from teeth over time. Therefore, for the health of your teeth enamel, you must remember to eat fresh vegetables, herbs and unsweetened fruits.

Don't forget to take care of your gum health. Hard varieties of vegetables and fruits will help with this. Chewing solid food has a massage effect on the gums, thereby improving blood circulation in the mouth.

Greens will help take care of healthy oral microflora (parsley is especially good for this task), because contains antibacterial substances that can stop inflammatory processes, get rid of bad breath, and prevent caries.

Folk remedies

Maintain the natural whiteness of your teeth or relieve minor inflammation of the gums with home remedies - what could be easier?

Teeth whitening products:

lemon juice. We have already noted above the benefits of citrus fruits: lemons, limes, oranges. You can often find recommendations for teeth whitening with lemon juice. This is an effective procedure for quickly eliminating dark spots after coffee, tea or tobacco. But we must not forget about the dangers of citric acid: if you have caries or thin enamel, lemon juice is strictly contraindicated. For healthy teeth, the procedure can be carried out no more than once every 7-10 days, remembering to thoroughly rinse the cavity with clean water;

tea tree oil. The oil is applied in a thin layer to the teeth, previously cleaned with paste. After 10-15 minutes, you need to rinse your mouth with warm water. In addition to a slight brightening effect, tea tree oil also has an antibacterial effect;

Relieving inflammation:

herbal infusion. Mix one part each of chamomile, sage and calendula and pour a glass of boiling water. Leave for 20 minutes. Strain and use to rinse morning and evening;

medicinal tea. Melissa, St. John's wort, motherwort and valerian root in equal proportions are the basis for healthy tea. Pour two tablespoons of the mixture into 500 ml of boiling water and let it brew for 15 minutes. The healing drink will relieve the first signs of gum inflammation and ensure a restful sleep.

NUTS and SEEDS

Nuts and seeds contain substances beneficial for teeth in particularly concentrated quantities, and therefore it is extremely important to eat them regularly.

It will be good if you eat not the same type of nut always, but different varieties of seeds and nuts. Introduce walnuts and pine nuts, hazelnuts and Brazil nuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and flax into your diet. This is important because the composition of nutrients in each nut is different, and therefore the effect is different for everyone. For example, pine nuts help the development of dental bone tissue.

At the same time, remember that cracking nuts with your teeth is a procedure that is traumatic for the tooth, so it is better to avoid it. For the same reason, it is harmful to crack seeds.

Products that contain useful vitamins and microelements

Calcium: milk, dairy products, cheese, cottage cheese, leafy green vegetables, salmon.
Phosphorus: dairy products, eggs, broccoli, green peas, potatoes, almonds, poultry, fish.
Vitamin A: dairy products, fruits and vegetables, eggs, butter, liver.
B vitamins: milk and fermented milk products, meat and meat by-products, beef liver, cereals (buckwheat, barley, oatmeal), legumes, Brussels sprouts, red peppers, garlic, culinary products made from wholemeal flour, ground coffee beans.
Vitamin C: citrus fruits, sorrel, black and red currants, greens, potatoes, cabbage, red peppers.
Vitamin D: dairy and fermented milk products, fatty fish, liver (pork, chicken, beef, cod), egg yolk, sour cream, butter.
Vitamin E: corn and sprouted wheat grains, vegetable oils, legumes, butter, cod, walnuts, bananas, carrots, onions.
Vitamin K: potatoes, corn, rose hips, green peas, carrots, tomatoes, soybeans, spinach.
Vitamin PP: meat products, fried and baked potatoes, peanuts, almonds, bran, beef liver, yeast.

What foods are harmful to teeth?

SWEET DRINKS

Sweet carbonated drinks are harmful to the body, especially to the teeth.

So-called soda and juice packages contain a lot of sugar, which not only destroys enamel, being a breeding ground for harmful bacteria, but also changes the chemical composition of saliva, saturating it with glucose, which also has an additional detrimental effect on dental health.

In addition, such drinks contain additives that can disrupt metabolic processes in the body.

Since sweets are harmful to teeth, you should not get carried away even with freshly squeezed natural juices, sweet fruits and berries. The fruit acids and glucose they contain can destroy tooth enamel.

Plain water will help prevent the negative effects of natural juice: just rinse your mouth with it.

SWEETS

Sweets can not only destroy a tooth, but also interfere with its natural restoration, because... The sugar they contain interferes with the absorption of calcium.

The only permitted sweet product can be dark chocolate, but only with a very high cocoa content. This chocolate can even prevent plaque because it contains antibacterial substances.

And if you really want to, please don’t forget to use dental floss after eating and rinse your mouth with water after eating.

DRIED FRUITS

This seemingly useful product, from the point of view of dental health, has a significant drawback - the viscosity of the product structure. This causes them to stick and get stuck in your teeth. Therefore, after eating dried fruits, you should not forget to use dental floss.

CAFFEINE

Coffee and other drinks containing caffeine dehydrate the body, interfere with absorption, and lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies (including calcium). If you find it difficult to give up coffee, replace it with chicory.

Many people do not know that caffeine is found not only in coffee, but also in black and, especially, green tea. So if you like green tea (or black), try replacing it with herbal tea.

SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATES

And again about sugar. It is found not only in sweets and sugar. Simple sugars are part of starch, which, among other things, consists of potatoes (which is why dishes made from them are so unhealthy), and high-grade white flour.

If you find it difficult to give up flour products, switch to products that include whole grain flour.

ALCOHOL and MEDICINES

When drinking alcoholic drinks, try to dilute them with water, if possible, and then brush your teeth. In addition to the fact that alcohol contains a lot of sugar, which has a detrimental effect on enamel, it also causes dehydration, which means that the production of saliva, an important tool for protecting teeth and oral microflora, is reduced.

Just like alcohol, some medications can cause dehydration, so be sure to drink plenty of fluids while taking your medications.

Roasted nuts and seeds

Only fresh nuts and seeds, in particular, are good for the body and teeth. Fried ones, on the contrary, are harmful. And here's why: the beneficial substances contained in the fresh product are destroyed during the frying process. Moreover, harmful substances are formed in large quantities.

If you can't avoid roasted nuts or seeds, it will be less harmful to your health if you buy them fresh and only lightly roast them yourself at home.

The need for milk occurs early

Human teeth and bones contain 99% of all calcium present in our body, dentists . Because a baby's teeth begin to form long before birth, expectant mothers should meet the recommended calcium intake of 1,200 to 1,500 mg per day. In this case, the child will receive a sufficient amount of this macronutrient necessary for the proper formation of bones and teeth. Milk and dairy products remain important for a child's growth and development after birth and into adolescence. In old age, calcium is necessary for the prevention of osteoporosis.

Other caries prevention measures

A healthy and balanced diet is of great importance in preventing the development of dental caries. However, you should not expect that giving up some foods and eating others can completely get rid of dental caries. An integrated approach is important in the fight against cariogenic bacteria and the prevention of caries. After adjusting your diet, also pay attention to the following points:

Brush your teeth regularly with a properly selected brush and paste, use floss, dental floss or irrigators to remove food debris from hard-to-reach areas and interdental spaces.
Visit your dentist twice a year for preventative purposes, even if you have no symptoms of caries and no signs of oral discomfort.
When caries appears, treat it at an early stage, without delaying the process to a deep stage or pulpitis.
Regularly visit a hygienist for professional teeth cleaning - special equipment will help remove complex plaque from the surface of the teeth, which is difficult to remove with manual brushing.

Compliance with these simple preventive measures plus nutritional correction towards a healthy and balanced diet will allow you to maintain healthy teeth for a long time and prevent the development of caries.