Nutrition & Drinks

Written by webmaster | March 10, 2010

NUTRITION

Good nutrition plays a large role in your dental health. Brushing and flossing help to keep your teeth and gums healthy and strong however a balanced diet will help to boost your bodies immune system, leaving you less vulnerable to oral disease.

How often and what you eat have been found to affect your dental health. Eating starchy foods such as crackers, bread, cookies and candy causes the bacteria in your mouth feed on them, they then produce acids, which attack your teeth for up to 20 minutes or more. Also foods that stick to your teeth or are slow to dissolve give the acids more time to work on destroying your tooth enamel.

Starchy Foods Crackers Breads Cookies Candies

Sticky/Slow to Dissolve Foods Granola Bars Chewy Fruit Snacks Dried Fruit Potato Chips Hard Candy

Sticky and starchy foods create less acid when eaten as part of a meal. Saliva production increases at mealtime, rinsing away food particles and neutralizing harmful acids.

Foods such as nuts, cheese, onions, and some teas have been shown to slow growth of decay- causing bacteria in the mouth.

---

DRINKS & TEETH

Drinks have emerged as one of the most significant sources of acid.

Drinks such as regular soda, diet soda, sports drinks, canned iced tea and lemonades can lead to extensive tooth decay and enamel destruction because of the low pH or acidity of the drinks.

Enamel is the hardest substance in the body but it is susceptible to breakdown from acids found in soda/drinks. The more acidic the drink (the lower its pH), the more rapid the enamel destruction. Tooth enamel dissolves below 5.5.

It is important to note that exposed root surfaces de-mineralize twice as fast as that of enamel.

Soda/drinks may contain carbonic, phosphoric, malic, citric and tartaric acids and therefore have an acidic pH. Drinks that contain artificial sweeteners still pose a significant threat because of their acidic content.

Acid (pH) Low=Bad
Water Brewed Black Coffee Brewed Black Tea A&W Root Beer Diet Sprite Sprite Diet Dew Diet Coke Mountain Dew Gatorade Canada Dry Ginger Ale Diet Pepsi Arizona Iced Tea HI Punch Coke Pepsi		7.00 (neutral) 6.25 5.36 4.80 3.34 3.27 3.27 3.22 3.14 2.95 2.94 2.94 2.94 2.82 2.48 2.46

There are other areas of the body which are affected:

• The phosphoric acid in beverages leaches calcium from bones, promoting osteoporosis.
• The intake of excess calories from soda is contributing to the obesity/diabetes epidemic that is occurring in children/teenagers today.

The best things to drink are WATER, MILK and 100% FRUIT JUICE, with the understanding that even milk and juice have sugar that can lead to decay.