Your diet can play a big part in your oral health. Certain foods can actually help with your smile, but there are others that can cause harm to your teeth. Dr. Andrew C. Cobb, a dentist in Washington DC, lists foods that you should avoid if you want to keep your mouth healthy.
1. Hard Candy
You probably already know that chewy candy isn’t recommended. It gets sugar stuck in and around your teeth. However, hard candy isn’t a great substitute for your sweet tooth. While hard candy doesn’t get stuck in your teeth, it does release sugar into your mouth the entire time it’s dissolving. This means that sugar can be emitted into your mouth for a very long time
Harmful oral bacteria reside in your mouth and use sugar as their main food source. These bacteria then emit an acidic byproduct into your mouth. This is what leads to problems with tooth decay and dental cavities.
Hard candy can also cause a dental emergency if you bite down at the wrong time or angle. It can lead to a broken, chipped, or cracked tooth, which will have to be repaired as soon as possible.
2. Dried Fruit
While dried fruit may seem like a healthy alternative to candy. But you should stick to fruit in its fresh form for the best results. Dried fruit is more concentrated with sugar and the texture is often similar to chewy candy. This means that it can get stuck between your teeth and in the crevices of your molars, causing tooth decay problems similar to what chewy candy would.
3. Ice
While drinking water is a great thing for your oral health, it should stay in its liquid form. Chewing ice as a habit increases how fast your teeth wear down. It also has the same problem as hard candy. If it hasn’t been melted enough, you can bite down and damage your teeth. Whether it happens short-term or long-term, there’s a good chance that ice will cause damage.
4. Sports Drinks
Sports drinks may seem like a good option for a workout or a better substitute for things like soda or energy drinks. However, they hide many sugars and other additives. Some of them may even contain more sugar than the soda you would’ve drunk instead. Citric acid is also a big ingredient in sports drinks for flavoring. This causes the enamel on your teeth to erode.
5. Coffee and Tea
Both of these drinks are dark and can cause staining on your teeth the more than you drink them. Both of them are also known to cause bad breath. Particularly if you add sugar to them, they can cause harm to the enamel on your teeth. They also contain caffeine, which contributes to your mouth drying out.
Your Washington DC Dentist
Make sure you’re seeing your dentist regularly to ensure your diet isn’t ruining your oral health. Call us today or schedule an appointment online.
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