Five Foods To Avoid : Keeping Your Mouth Healthy

6324379 m Modern Dentistry — #1 Professional Dentists in Brooklyn Five Foods To Avoid : Keeping Your Mouth Healthy

There are a few simple steps you can take to improve your overall dental health. Make and keep regular dental cleanings and checkups. If it’s been longer than you would care to admit since your last cleaning, call Modern Dentistry today to get on our schedule. Beyond regular cleanings, brushing and flossing after every meal is your first at-home defense against bacteria. Lastly, knowing which foods to avoid can have dramatic effects on your overall dental health. To help you shop with your dental health in mind, we have compiled a list of the five foods you should avoid.

Five Foods to Avoid for Optimal Dental Health

  1. Ice: You would be shocked at how many people believe that chewing on ice is good for their teeth. Since it is made of water, it’s understandable that you may not understand the harm it can do to your teeth. But, if you’re an ice chewer, stop! Chewing on any substance as hard as an ice cube can damage the enamel of your teeth and lead you open to decay and infection.
  2. Oranges (and other citrus fruits): For the most part, fruits are a healthy and vital part of anyone’s diet. Citrus fruits, however, can be problematic for dental health because they erode the enamel of your teeth — leaving them susceptible to decay.
  3. Sticky Foods: Sticky foods are the bane of dentists’ existence. Sticky foods, including dried fruits, stay on your teeth longer than any other food you eat. A dried apricot, for example, will stay stuck to your teeth for hours. This leads to incredible opportunities for decay.
  4. Soda: Soda has gotten more bad press in the last year than almost any other food or beverage. Sadly for the soda industry, the press is true. For your mouth, soda is problematic because of the production of plaque bacteria that uses sugar to produce acids that break down your teeth’s enamel and cause decay. The same goes for sports drinks.
  5. Pickles: The problem with pickles lies in the combination of sugar and acidic vinegar. This combination is essentially a decay creating machine and can lead to substantial decay.

As always, everything is fine in moderation so long as you’re brushing and flossing regularly. But, if you are regularly dining on any of these foods or beverages, you may be doing a serious disservice to your mouth. If you suspect decay, call a Brooklyn dentist today!

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