We’re warned from childhood that too many sugary foods will rot our teeth. And while this may be exaggerated to scare us from overindulging, it is true that added sugar is a leading cause of tooth decay in millennials.
But sugar isn’t the only thing that causes those harmful dental cavities. And avoiding your teeth becoming stained is another consideration entirely. Here are 5 everyday food and drinks you may want to think twice about before eating to stave off cavities and keep your teeth white.
We all know most sweets and candies are super-high in sugar. But the sweets most likely to cause tooth decay are those that stick stubbornly onto and between teeth long after eating – like gummy sweets. They linger in the mouth for many hours, giving them more time to cause lasting damage.
Floe’s top tip: Switch to treats like dark chocolate with lower sugar content and that rinse off teeth far easier. Dark chocolate also has a whitening effect on teeth!
Carbonated soft drinks attack your teeth in two ways. Their high sugar content puts you at higher risk of suffering cavities. Meanwhile, they are acidic, meaning they wear down your teeth’s enamel leading to tooth erosion. These acids, as well as the dye found in many sodas, can also cause discolouration and staining of the teeth.
Floe’s top tip: Choosing the sugar-free versions of the major soft drinks will greatly lessen your risk of cavities.
High starch snacks like potato crisps might not be the first thing we think of being harmful to our oral health. But these foods also tend to get compacted on and between our teeth while eating. With enzymes in saliva breaking down the starch into sugar, it’s easy to see how this can quickly lead to tooth decay.
Floe’s top tip: Flossing straight after eating crisps helps remove them from the mouth and prevents plaque building up.
We recently looked at coffee’s negative impacts on our teeth – and many of these findings also apply to tea. Their high tannin content leads to tooth staining if left unchecked. And while they’re not as acidic as fizzy drinks, tea and coffee still present a risk of enamel erosion.
Floe’s top tip: A glass of water to rinse your mouth after every cup can prevent some of the worst damage from occurring.
Alcoholic drinks are extremely varied, but all have the effect of drying out our mouths. When we lack saliva, we’re left more susceptible to the dangerous effects of plaque and acid damaging our teeth. In addition, drinks like red wine are high in tannins, which as we know are a major contributor to teeth staining.
Floe’s top tip: Take extra care to stay hydrated during and after drinking alcohol.
The foods we’ve discussed are everyday things for many of us. This means we need to make sure we’re also taking the utmost care of our mouths every day – to prevent the tooth decay that these foods put us at greater risk of.
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