Does Your Food Intake Have An Effect On Oral Health?

Good oral hygiene is essential for overall health and a quality life. Eating habits play a major role in oral health. Maintaining your teeth isn’t just only about looking good but poor dental care can lead to health problems.

- Dr. Riddhi Rathi Shet

Oral health is often viewed in isolation from the rest of the general health and what many people do not realize is that poor oral health can have a negative effect on the mouth areas, also on your heart, diabetes, pregnancy etc. It is often said that you are what you eat and your diet/nutrition intake has an impact on many oral diseases. There are many food items like starch heavy, sticky and acidic foods that attract bacteria in your mouth leading to tooth decay and diseases.

Foods that you can avoid or limit for a healthy oral health:

Every edible component that you consume comes in contact with your teeth directly, which means those choices continually impact the health of your teeth and gums. Besides brushing your teeth and flossing on a regular basis, here is a list of foods that you can avoid or limit for a healthy oral health:

Starchy foods

Who does not enjoy crunchy potato chips? Food like white breads, potato chips and pasta are filled with starch and can easily get accumulated between your teeth. When chewing a slice of bread, your saliva breaks down the starches into sugar transforming into a gummy paste-like substance that sticks to the crevices between teeth and can damage the tooth enamel. If you cannot control eating these food items, take extra care of your oral health by flossing day to day to remove all the particles that are stuck leading plaque build-up.

Watch that citrus intake