You can help keep your teeth healthy from the inside out — certain diet choices can help keep your choppers strong and shiny. Here are some tips to help protect your mouth against decay, disease, and more!
- Sugar isn’t the only thing that’s bad for your teeth — carbs can be just as damaging. After all, carbohydrates break down into simple sugars in your body. In your mouth, sugars are converted into plaque.
- That doesn’t mean you have to give up carbs! Just try to eat them only at mealtimes. Carbs are kind of sticky, so they tend to adhere between teeth or below the gum line. Eating your carbs at mealtime will give your mouth a chance to clean the carbs away. The more you eat, the more saliva you produce. Spit helps wash food particles away.
- Make sure you get plenty of vitamin C in your diet. Vitamin C helps hold all your cells together — from your skin to your gums. If you get less than 60 milligrams of vitamin C daily, you are 25% more likely to have gum disease than folks who get 180 milligrams or more every day. As a measure, one eight ounce glass of OJ contains 80 milligrams of vitamin C or more.
- Make sure you eat plenty of calcium in your diet. The majority of the calcium in your body lives in your bones and your teeth. 800 milligrams of calcium every day (for the average guy) will help reduce your risk of developing gum disease. Women under fifty probably need more — around 1000 milligrams daily. Women over fifty should get 1200 milligrams daily.
- Drink tea. The antioxidants in black and green tea help prevent plaque from sticking to your teeth! That means you have a lower chance of developing cavities and gum disease. Many teas also contain fluoride (both from the leaves and from the water you steep the tea in) so that helps protect your tooth enamel.
- Drink tea. Yes, I’m saying it twice. The antioxidants in black and green tea inhibit the growth of certain kinds of bacteria — the kinds that cause bad breath.
- Drink your sodas, sports drinks, and juices through a straw. Citric and phosphoric acids in drinks (even diet drinks) can erode your tooth enamel. Using a straw can limit the contact with your teeth.