How many times have we all heard that sugar is bad for our teeth? Now we hear over and over that we need to cut down on our carbos. Well darn, I like deserts and snacks. So I want to pass along a tip or two that will reduce the bad things these comfort foods can do to harm our beautiful teeth. First some background.
Carbohydrates breakdown at some point into the simple sugars. As you may remember from high school science, the simple sugars are lactose, fructose, maltose and glucose. Some foods in the carbohydrate family break down in the mouth and others breakdown later in the digestive tract. Those that break down in the mouth feed the oral bacteria and they inturn produce acids. Unfortunately these acids can dissolve the mineral parts of the tooth. Destruction of the mineral portions of the tooth is the cause of the damage found in tooth decay.
Foods That Will Harm Your Teeth
The obvious foods to watch for are sugars, soft drinks, candy, etc. There are some less obvious food to also watch for including crackers, bread and bananas. As soon as these foods are eaten the acids begin to be produced. This bacteria, the sticky white film called plaque that forms on the teeth and the available sugars cause the problems. Time is the most significant factor in the amount of damage that will occur. Simply put, the more time there is food in your mouth the more acids that will be produced. When people snack throughout the day the production of acids will be continuous. As long as food is available the acids produce more and more decay. Even after you eat, the bacteria will produce acids for 1/2 hour. Bad news.
The Good News
Not to be discouraged, remember that there are things working for you. When we eat more saliva flows and the teeth are actually washed. Food and acid are removed. In addition, the acids are weakened by the liquid portion of the saliva. Another plus is the increase in saliva actually washes the whole mouth and cleans the tongue. The tongue is a major cause of bad breath and the extra saliva removes food and plaque. To top it off saliva also has an anti-bacterial agent that is very helpful to oral health.
There are certain foods that can help protect the teeth. Cheese can actually change an acid into a neutral substance. Milk has a buffering action that reduces the strength of the oral acids. A big suprise is the action of sugarless gum and candy containing Xylotol. One great property of Xylotol is that it reduces the number of bacteria in the mouth substantially and with less bacteria, you guessed it, there is a reduction in the amount of acid and decay.
Your Diet Plays a Role
While most of us really don’t like to watch our diet carefully there are many reasons to do so just for oral health reasons alone. For example, the mouth is quite sensative to nutritional problems. The surface cells lining the mouth are replaced as often as every three to seven days. With this rapid turnover your nutrition needs to be good for healthy new tissue to form properly. Poor nutrition, including a lack of certain vitamins, has been shown to be a common contributing factor in gum disease. We know that a weakened immune system is clearly involved in gum disease.
The question now becomes what can we eat that is not bad for us. Remember the old food pyramid from high school? The US Dept. of Agriculture has finally, after over 50 years, has come up with a new and more effective tool to help us decide on the best diet for us. It is now an interactive internet tool that is called “My Pyramid”. It is easy to find on Google. The new pyramid makes a customized plan depending on physical activity, age and gender. I recommend you look at it.
Here is the bottom line. Time is the critical factor. The less time there is food in your mouth the less time the bacteria have to make acid. Less time, less acid, less decay. Key word: Time
What is a person to do about all this. How can I reduce the time factor? Check out the section on Prevention on my web site for some helpful ideas. It is full of helpful suggestions.
Best regards, AM
