Superfoods For Your Dental Health

Amazing dental care doesn’t always have to be so complicated. While it is important to maintain your dental hygiene, you don’t need to be constantly cautious of everything you eat to avoid cavities. In fact, certain foods can even boost your dental health. Before diving into that, it’s essential to learn a little about your teeth and what they need to function properly.

Your Tooth at A Glance

Your teeth are all made of four major parts – enamel, dentin, cementum, and pulp. The pulp is the innermost layer of the tooth that contains various nerves. It is surrounded by the cementum, which is a connective tissue that joins with the roots of your teeth.

The dentin surrounds the cementum and is responsible for all communication with the nerves. It is the tooth’s most delicate area. The entire tooth is protected by the enamel – a hard layer that is made of calcium phosphate like the rest of your bones.

How Can Food Promote Better Health

Your teeth and gums require proper nutrition, just like your muscles and bones. Without receiving their required nutrition, they can succumb to diseases and get weak. However, if you eat a mineral-rich diet that provides enough calcium, phosphorous, vitamin D, and other essential nutrients, you can ensure the strength of your enamel for a long time.

Moreover, there are certain foods that have antibacterial properties, and they can help reduce the chances of tooth decay by a large margin. While this does not substitute for teeth cleaning and flossing your teeth in any way, it will certainly help you reduce any additional risk of dental cavities when eating sweet foods.

Effects of Oral Health On Your Overall Nutrition

Maintaining proper oral health is also important for your overall health. As chewing is the first step of the digestive process, being unable to chew can cause you to miss out on a few vital nutrients in your food.

Moreover, it will also affect your ability to eat certain foods such as nuts, raw fruits, and certain meats. This would further deprive you of essential nutrients and prevent your overall health. Therefore, eating foods that benefit your oral health will, in turn, help improve your overall health as well.

Best Foods for Oral Health

• Dairy

All dairy products provide calcium to your body. This is vital for providing strength to your enamel and also to other bones in your body. However, you must also get enough sunlight for your body to create Vitamin D as, without it, your body cannot absorb calcium from your diet.

• Spinach

While all green vegetables are good for you, spinach deserves a special spot here, thanks to its high iron content. It is also a great source of calcium and can be your primary source of the mineral if you’re lactose intolerant.

• Almonds

Almonds are very healthy for your overall health, and they are also an excellent snack. Almonds have high contents of proteins, good fatty acids, and calcium while also having low levels of sugar.

• Salmon

Salmon has one of the highest protein concentrations of all meats, and it is also rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. Moreover, it is also a dietary source of Vitamin D and is therefore beneficial for your gums as well as your enamel.

• Carrots

Carrots aren’t only good for your eyes; they can also help clean your teeth in a natural manner. While they don’t substitute brushing your teeth, they do massage your teeth and gums. They also contain Keratin, which is another important component of tooth enamel.

• White Meat

White meat is well known for its high protein-to-fat ratio. It is also a natural source of phosphorous that helps with bone and tooth regeneration. If you don’t get enough phosphorous regularly, your teeth can chip easily while eating hard foods.

• Celery

Celery is another crunchy food that can help massage your teeth and gums. It is also a natural source of Vitamin K that helps in moving calcium through your bloodstream. It is also a saliva booster and helps in the prevention of gum disease.

• Apples

Apples are true superfoods that help shape your overall health. Apart from being a natural source of several vitamins and minerals, apples also have less acidity than most fruits and don’t drop the pH level of your mouth by a large margin. This helps reduce the wearing of your enamel.

• Water

Water is your best friend. Whether you’re looking to clear your skin, get in shape, or improve your oral health, there’s no better drink out there. Apart from not having any sugar or acids, water also helps boost your saliva level and maintain the pH of your mouth.

Now that you know which are the best foods for improving your dental health let’s also go over those you need to avoid.

Stuff to Avoid

Here are some of the foods you should avoid eating on a regular basis to help maintain your oral health:

• Sweets 

This can also extend to chocolates and other kinds of sweets that can cause bacteria to grow around your teeth.

• Fizzy Drinks 

Not only are most Fizzy drinks really high in sugar, but they are also quite acidic. As such, they can slowly dissolve your enamel, leaving the other layers unprotected.

• Dehydrating Foods and Beverages

Dehydrating foods and beverages such as coffee and alcohol significantly reduce the saliva in your mouth and prevent it from balancing the pH level of your mouth.

Final Thoughts

While most of the foods mentioned here are not going to replace your existing dental hygiene regimen, they can help ease the stress of dental problems. If you’d like to learn more about foods that boost oral health, perhaps speaking with Complete smile dentist could help you get another perspective.

Anjula Roshan

Roshan Anjula is the Finance & Operations Manager at Complete Smiles UK & Northern Europe. Specialist in human resources, he oversees 5 dental practices and is an expert in the management of finances, accounts, operations, and administration for the Complete Smiles Brand.

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