Dr Gary Stephenson explains how your eating and drinking habits can affect the colour and condition of your teeth.
It’s not just about brushing, flossing and mouthwashing! Everyday habits can leave your teeth more prone to decay and erosion and even stain your pearly whites. Here Dr Gary, principal nutrition and health scientist, offers some useful advice.
A happy dental diet: tips for great looking teeth
Food
• It’s not so much the amount of sugary food and drink you enjoy, it’s how often you eat them and thereby feed the harmful bacteria on your teeth that cause tooth decay. That’s not a green light to gorge on tons of sugary snacks in one go, but do think about how often you eat acidic or sugary foods.
• So it’s not so much the sugars in meals you need to be concerned about for your teeth, it is more through the day consumption of snacks and drinks.
• Though a piece of fruit may be considered a healthier snack, most fruit is still acidic (especially citrus fruit). The acid will normally be neutralised by your saliva, following an occasional acid attack and will be repaired but not if you have one after the other, so don’t eat constantly through the day.
Drink
• Acidity. Dental erosion is caused when the enamel on teeth is dissolved by a drink or food that is acidic. ‘Sugar-free’ options are just as damaging, especially your front teeth if you sip through the day from a glass or can. The major culprits are fizzy drinks and fruit juice, though other acidic drinks that you are encouraged to sip like wine, also have an effect.
• The calcium in milk or cheese helps replace the calcium lost during these acid attacks, so cheese and wine isn’t such a bad move.
• Sugar. Adding sugar to your tea or coffee, and drinking sugary drinks throughout the day constantly refuel those nasty plaque bacteria that convert the sugar into acid leading to subsurface tooth loss, or decay – the kind of damage which requires a dentist’s drill to clear away.
• Drinks that stain. Tannin in drinks like tea, coffee and red wine can stain your teeth. You might notice this particularly with some red wines which leave your teeth and tongue stained even after one glass, but bear in mind that even your regular tea breaks affect how white your teeth will look.
Gum
• Don’t replace a chance to clean your teeth with a stick of gum. Always brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes, preferably with a power brush, rotation-oscillation, (turning back and forth action) is best, use a fluoride toothpaste and remember to floss.
• Chewing a sugar-free gum after you have eaten something will certainly encourage saliva production and saliva does help to neutralise acids left in your mouth after consuming food or drink, but it cannot replace a proper brushing and flossing regime twice a day.
Don’t miss our tips for Family dental health, too.