Your diet plays a big part in the state of your oral health. Even if you brush and floss regularly and visit your Annapolis dentist regularly, your diet can still cause problems with your teeth. Dr. Scott Finlay of Annapolis Smiles discusses some foods you should try to avoid if you want to keep your smile healthy.
1. Hard Candy
You probably already know that chewy candy gets stuck in your teeth and is a bad idea. But hard candy doesn’t offer a good alternative. While it doesn’t get stuck in the teeth, it releases sugar into your mouth the entire time it dissolved. Harmful oral bacteria feed off of the sugar and release an acidic byproduct. This causes problems with tooth decay.
Hard candy can also cause a dental emergency. If it hasn’t dissolved enough or you bite down on the wrong area, you could chip, crack, or break your tooth. This creates a need for a cosmetic or possibly even restorative dental procedure to fix the tooth that’s impacted.
2. Sports Drinks
While you may think they’re healthier than sodas or energy drinks, sports drinks may actually contain as much sugar as the others. Many of them are also flavored with citric acid. This increases how fast the enamel on your teeth wears down, making it more likely for you to have tooth decay problems and needing something like a root canal.
One of the worst things about citric acid is that there’s no great way to get rid of it after you consume it. It’s important to wait a while after having citric acid to brush your teeth, as it can actually make the damage to your teeth worse. Drink plain water after having sports drinks to do your best to rinse away the acid.
3. Dried Fruit
While fruit is usually a good option for your sweet tooth, stick to the fresh kind. Dried fruit is concentrated with sugar and has a sticky, chewy texture. This is similar to chewy candy. It gets stuck between teeth easily, as well as crevices in the molars. Some of the nutrients are also reduced when the fruit gets dried.
4. Crackers and Chips
These usually don’t say they have added sugars on the package. However, they’re both made of starches. These break down into sugars as they’re chewed. Chips are notorious for breaking into small pieces and getting stuck between teeth. Crackers turn into a paste-like substance when they’re chewed, sticking in the crevices of your molars.
5. Ice
Water is great for you in its liquid form. Having a habit of chewing ice, though, causes increased wear and tear on your teeth. They wear down faster than they would normally. Ice can also have the same problem that hard candy does. If you bite down at the wrong time, it could lead to a break or crack in your tooth.
Visiting Your Annapolis Dentist
When you visit your dentist in Annapolis regularly, they can make sure your diet isn’t harming your teeth. Call us or schedule an appointment online!