Essential Nutrients For Healthy Teeth

Dietary advice for good oral health, compiled by your Epsom dental team.

When it comes to discussing good oral health, many things come into play. Avoiding, or at least reducing, sugar in our diet is one of them.

We also need to make sure that we look after our teeth well at home, and see a dentist every six months for a regular check up.

Our family genes also play a role and even the best diet in the world may not help you to avoid treatment if your ‘dental genes’ are not as good as they could be.

There are other things that you can do though, and diet again plays a role in this. Our bodies need a good level of nutrition to function at their best, and our teeth are no different. In today’s Clock Tower Dental Clinic blog, we take a look at some types of food that are important to help maintain strong and healthy teeth.

Cheese

Whilst we are not saying that you should eat a large amount of cheese, something which may not be good for your heart; a moderate amount of cheese is very helpful for healthy teeth. Not only does it contain calcium and proteins, both of which are essential for strong enamel, but also neutralises some acids that can damage our teeth. So eating a small quantity of cheese at the end of a meal can actually help to protect your teeth!

Yoghurts

Again, yoghurt, as with most dairy products, contains calcium and proteins. If you buy a good quality yoghurt though, and one that is not full of sugar, they also often contain live bacteria that are helpful for your mouth and gut and will help to minimise the damage that harmful bacteria can cause.

Apples

Although apples, like all fruits, do contain natural sugars, they also offer benefits too. The sweetness of an apple, along with the high water content, has a tendency to make us salivate as we eat them. This increase in saliva helps to wash away the bacteria and food particles that may have become trapped between our teeth. Of course this is not a substitute for brushing our teeth, but is certainly a helpful addition.

Crunchy vegetables

Both carrots and celery, when eaten raw, are great for helping to remove sugars and other food deposits from the surface of your teeth. Saliva production is also increased; again helping to remove excess “bad” bacteria. These raw vegetables are also a good source of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, and in carrots, vitamin A.

Eat your greens

Getting your children to eat green vegetables can be a challenge, but one that will benefit them, as it will adults. Leafy greens contain calcium, but also folic acid which is a type of vitamin B that can be beneficial especially to pregnant women to help them reduce the risk of gum disease, a common problem during pregnancy.

Almonds

If you are a ‘snacker’, you possibly eat a lot of sugary, or at least unhealthy, snacks. Why not consider replacing these with nuts, and especially almonds? Almonds are both sugar free and a good source of calcium and protein. They can also be used on top of food, such as to finish off a salad.

Nutritional supplements

There are no ‘miracle solutions’ for having healthy teeth that can be found in a tablet and good oral care involves ongoing maintenance and a sensible healthy diet. That said, vitamin supplements may prove useful in certain cases. For example, the rise in popularity of veganism could lead to some people lacking in certain nutrients. The best known of these for vegans is vitamin B12, but, with no dairy produce in their diet, they may well also be lacking in calcium, an important mineral for healthy teeth. Whilst it is true that this is attainable in a vegan diet, it is not as straightforward as getting it from dairy products. You may wish to discuss this with your doctor to ensure that you get a balanced diet.

Another vitamin that many people struggle to get is vitamin D. Most of this is obtained through exposure to the sun, something we often lack in the UK. Patient who spend most of their time indoors and those who cover up or who have darker pigmented skin, also may struggle to absorb enough of this. As vitamin D is important for the absorption of calcium, you may wish to take a supplement, Again, we advise that you discuss this with your GP.

Whatever you eat, you still need to brush and floss your teeth well. The foods mentioned above though, also offer a number of benefits for our teeth, and adding them to your diet can only be a positive thing.

Check up appointments at the Clock Tower Dental Clinic in Epsom can be made by calling us on 01372 720136.