Nutrition and Your Teeth in Stouffville
Good nutrition and a well-balanced diet is one of the best defenses for your oral health. By providing your body with the right amounts of vitamins and minerals, you help your teeth and gums-as well as your immune system-stay strong and ward off infection, decay, and disease.
Harmful acids and bacteria in your mouth are left behind from eating foods high in sugar and carbohydrates. These include carbonated beverages, some kinds of fruit juices, and many kinds of starch foods like pasta, bread, and cereal. While no links have been actually made between gum disease and a poor diet, nutritional problems (including obesity and overeating) can create conditions that make gum disease easier to contract.
Children's Nutrition and Teeth
Encouraging good eating habits that begin in early childhood can go a long way to ensuring that your child grows up to experience a lifetime of good oral health.
Your child should eat foods that are rich in calcium and other kinds of minerals, as well as a healthy balance of the essential food groups like vegetables, fruits, dairy products, poultry, and meat. Fluoride supplements may be helpful if you live in a community without fluoridated water but consult with our office first. (Be aware that sugars are found in some kinds of condiments, as well as fruits and even milk.)
Allowing your children to eat excessive amounts of junk food (starches and sugars)-including potato chips, cookies, crackers, soda, even artificial fruit rollups and granola bars-only places them at risk for serious oral health problems down the road, including obesity, osteoporosis, and diabetes. Also, the frequency in which you allow your child to eat junk food is also a key ingredient in encouraging oral and overall health problems in the future. The carbonation found in soda, for example, can actually erode tooth enamel. Encourage your child to use a straw when drinking soda; this will help keep at least some of the carbonated beverage away from the teeth.
Adult Nutrition and Teeth
There’s no discounting the importance of continuing a healthy balanced diet throughout your adult life.
If you develop a weight problem, change your diet, and get regular exercise. Be aware that so-called fad diets have been known to cause serious deficiencies in recommended levels of minerals and vitamins.
Of course, good oral hygiene helps ensure that harmful bacteria and plaque, the sticky substances that coats your teeth during sleep and after meals, are effectively minimized. Adults are encouraged to avoid eating “sticky” foods such as caramels and dried fruits because they leave behind stubborn substances on teeth and only encourage needless plaque formation.
If you have any questions, please feel free to speak with Dr. Ali or one of the Stouffville Family Dentistry team members today.
