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To prevent
cavities and maintain good oral health, your diet -- what you eat and how often
you eat -- are important factors.
Changes in
your mouth start the minute you eat certain foods. Bacteria in the mouth
convert sugars from the foods you eat to acids, and it's the acids that begin
to attack the enamel on teeth, starting the decay process.
The more
often you eat and snack, the more frequently you are exposing your teeth to the
cycle of decay.
Mouth-Healthy
Foods and Drinks
The best
food choices for the health of your mouth include cheeses, chicken or other
meats, nuts, and milk. These foods are thought to protect tooth enamel by
providing the calcium and phosphorus needed to re-mineralize teeth (a natural
process by which minerals are re-deposited in tooth enamel after being removed
by acids).
Other food
choices include firm/crunchy fruits (for example, apples and pears) and
vegetables. These foods have a high water content, which dilutes the effects of
the sugars they contain, and stimulate the flow of saliva (which helps protect
against decay by washing away food particles and buffering acid).
Acidic
foods, such as citrus fruits, tomatoes, and lemons, should be eaten as part of
a larger meal to minimize the acid from them.
Poor food
choices include candy -- such as lollipops, hard candies, and mints -- cookies,
cakes, pies, breads, muffins, potato chips, pretzels, French fries, bananas,
raisins, and other dried fruits. These foods contain large amounts of sugar
and/or can stick to teeth, providing a fuel source for bacteria. In addition,
cough drops should be used only when necessary as they, like sugary candy,
contribute to tooth decay because they continuously coat the teeth with sugar.
The best
beverage choices include water (especially fluoridated water), milk, and
unsweetened tea. Limit your consumption of sugar-containing drinks, including
soft drinks, lemonade, and coffee or tea with added sugar. Also, avoid day-long
sipping of sugar-containing drinks -- day-long sipping exposes your teeth to
constant sugar and, in turn, constant decay-causing acids.
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