While eating the right food at proper intervals is vital for your physical wellbeing, certain foods and food habits should be adopted to take care of our oral health too. Here is a list of 7 oral health tips to keep your teeth clean and strong.
Avoid Alcohol and Tobacco
Vices such as alcohol and tobacco are not only harmful for your body, but have irreversible damage on your teeth and gums too. While tobacco and coffee cause discoloration of your teeth, spirits such as red wine, beer and cider contain chemicals that may lead to tooth erosion.
Eat Fiber and Whole Grains
Consuming food items that are high in fiber is a great way to protect your teeth. As high fiber food like raisins, figs, dates, peanuts, almonds and fruits such as bananas, apples, oranges increase the flow of saliva, ultimately protecting your gums and teeth. Other great sources of fiber can be found in vegetables like sprouts, beans and peas.
Whole grain items are high in vitamin B and iron which is great for strengthening your bones, gums and teeth. Food like brown rice, brown bread and whole wheat cereals are the best sources of whole grains.
Drink more water
While it is a known fact that water is ideal for your overall wellbeing, it plays a big role in maintaining your oral health and hygiene. Water contains fluoride, which is used professionally in orthodontics clinics to strengthen, protect and guard your teeth from decaying and cavities. Regular drinking of water post meals helps clean up any leftover food particles that may be stuck around the teeth, thus preventing any bacteria build up. Along with all of these benefits, water also increases the flow of saliva, which is a natural lubricant.
Avoid snacking between meals
Did you know that it takes a whole 40 minutes for your saliva to start protecting your mouth after a meal? Excess snacking in between meals, especially sugary snacks, are high in plague acid which lead to the decaying of teeth. With limited in between healthy snacks, you can take care of your health and oral health too.
Chew sugar-free gum
Chewing on sugar free gum not only acts as a lubricant, increasing the flow of saliva, it also helps in removing any food particles that are difficult to spot and leaves you with fresh breath too. Instead of brushing your teeth too often, alternate it with chewing gum instead.
Quit Smoking
Apart from a never ending list of health hazards caused by smoking, smoke can be detrimental to your teeth as well. Yellowing of teeth, tooth decay, mouth cancer and gum disease are all caused due to smoking.
Eat calcium-rich foods
Calcium is crucial to keep your bones strong and is equally effective for your teeth too. Ensure that you eat a sufficient amount of dairy products like milk, cheese, yoghurt on a daily basis. Low fat versions of dairy products are good too. Leafy greens like broccoli, canned fish and dried fruits are all rich in calcium.
The perfect smile will increase your self esteem and confidence and help in many social and professional situations. By ensuring that our diets are clean and following these dietary tips for our oral health, we can positively maintain our million dollar smiles.
Author Bio:
Bill Brown is an American content writer. He belongs to a health and beauty expert family. His writing skills are descriptive and meaningful. He enjoys reading and writing health and fitness blogs so he has written many oral health care blogs too. He is the person who likes to stay fit and healthy, so always keeps him updated about the recent health and fitness tips.
When I started drinking more water I realized how important it was, you basically help your body to work better, I advice everyone who thinks he doesn’t drink enough, start doing it!