A healthy body, mind, and mouth begin with a healthy diet. Consuming a balanced diet full of vegetables, whole fruits, unprocessed grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins fuels your body with precisely what it needs to thrive.
Your teeth and gums need certain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to stave off a range of oral health issues. For example, tooth decay, gum disease, oral infections, and other conditions can be brought on or worsened by a poor diet. Conversely, a healthy diet creates stronger teeth, healthier gums, and a better smile!
Nutrition and Dental Health
What you eat has a massive impact on your health, including your oral health. A good, healthy diet promotes healthy teeth and gums, whereas an unhealthy diet can lead to tooth decay, gum disease, and other oral health issues. Your diet and teeth are intrinsically connected, so it’s very important to eat with your oral health in mind.
Supporting Your Oral Health Through Diet
You can maintain and improve the health of your gums and teeth by making smart diet choices. Your mouth needs the right vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to thrive—just like the rest of your body. Eating a healthy, balanced diet with lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins ensures that you get everything you need.
Calcium for Strong Teeth
You’ve likely heard that calcium is the foundation of strong bones. In fact, 99% of your body’s calcium is stored in your bones and teeth. Consequently, calcium also plays a pivotal role in keeping your teeth strong and healthy. It’s particularly important for your tooth enamel, which is the hard outer layer that protects your teeth against decay and infection.
Consuming enough calcium promotes the remineralization of all-too-important tooth enamel, thereby reducing your risk of cavities and helping to maintain bone density over time. Calcium is very important for children, whose teeth and bones are still developing. If you have children, it’s vital that they have adequate calcium in their diet.
Most famously, calcium is found in dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt. However, you can also find ample calcium in leafy greens, almonds, tofu, tahini, and fortified plant-based milks.
Phosphorous for Remineralisation
Your teeth naturally demineralize throughout the day, losing essential minerals like calcium and phosphate. Over time, this can lead to oral health issues, like cavities. Fortunately, your diet actively supports remineralization. The phosphate in your diet works alongside calcium to repair and strengthen weakened tooth enamel.
Common sources of phosphorus are meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, and nuts. It’s also present in various legumes, seeds, and tofu. These foods are essential for nutrition and dental health.
Fluoride for Strong Enamel
Fluoride is an essential mineral for oral health. Fortunately, it’s very plentiful, naturally occurring in all water, air, soil, and food. In dentistry, fluoride is used to assist in remineralization. It strengthens your tooth enamel so it’s more resistant to acid attacks from oral bacteria. That’s why using a fluoride toothpaste significantly reduces your risk of developing cavities! Fluoride can actually reverse early signs of tooth decay.
As we mentioned, fluoride naturally occurs in groundwater and surface water. In Canada, it’s also added to municipal drinking water to actively promote healthier teeth among Canadians. All you need to do to get enough fluoride in your diet is to stay hydrated with tap water!
Vitamin C for Gum Health
Vitamin C is crucial for healthy gums. It promotes collagen production and tissue repair, helping to prevent gum-related issues like bleeding gums, gingivitis, and periodontal disease. This is why scurvy often leads to bleeding gums and the loosening of teeth.
You likely already know how to add more vitamin C to your diet—eat more fruits! Citrus fruits are full of vitamin C. Berries and vegetables like bell peppers, broccoli, and tomatoes are also great sources of this essential vitamin.
Water to Wash Away Bacteria
One of the easiest ways to improve your oral health is to simply drink more water. Choosing water over pop, fruit juices, and sports drinks will significantly improve your oral and overall health.
Most beverages are full of sugar. Even natural fruit juices have very high sugar content, despite also being packed with vitamin C. It’s useful to remember that every time you take a sip of a sweet drink, you are effectively bathing your teeth and gums in sugar. This creates an acidic oral environment by feeding the oral bacteria, which weakens your tooth enamel. Some drinks are also acidic, making them twice as bad for your teeth.
Water, on the other hand, creates a healthy oral environment. It washes away food particles, leftover sugars, bacteria, and acid to protect your teeth and gums. Plus, hydration is the best way to avoid dry mouth. When your mouth becomes too dry, oral bacteria flourish and you are, once again, left with a highly acidic environment.
Tooth Decay Prevention
Poor Diet Causes Cavities
There is a clear link between nutrition and oral health, especially where tooth decay is concerned. Tooth decay occurs when the enamel weakens and bacteria attack the sensitive inner layers of the tooth.
The bacteria in your mouth feed on sugars and starches, some of which are left behind as debris whenever you eat or drink. As bacteria break down these particles, they produce acid. This acid erodes the tooth enamel, creating small holes that are susceptible to bacterial attack.
When you eat a diet that is high in sugar (or acidic foods), bacterial overgrowth becomes much more rampant. This accelerates the formation of decay or cavities. Frequent snacking has a similar impact. When you snack often, the oral environment is more acidic.
Cavities can also be caused by poor oral hygiene. When you fail to care for your teeth properly, bacteria eat away at the tooth enamel and cause decay. This is why it is absolutely essential to brush your teeth twice a day, floss once daily, and visit Bristol Dental Clinic every six months for a cleaning and checkup.
Foods That Harm Your Dental Health
- Sugary snacks, especially hard and sticky candies
- Cookies, cakes, and muffins
- Starchy foods, like processed bread and potato chips
- Sweet beverages, including fruit juices and lemonade
- Sports drinks and pop
- Alcohol
Contact Bristol Dental Clinic
At Bristol Dental Clinic, we’re committed to diving deeper into your oral health to keep your teeth and gums healthy for life. Our talented team of dentists, hygienists, and specialists take steps to identify potential problems early and deliver comprehensive, prompt treatment whenever necessary.
We’re also readily available with advice and guidance. If you have any questions concerning how you can prevent tooth decay with diet, don’t hesitate to ask! We look forward to seeing you at your next appointment with us.
To book an appointment with a dentist in Mississauga, or for more information on nutrition and dental health, call Bristol Dental Clinic at 866-673-2109 or contact us here.
