How food and drinks damage or help our teeth

Are you aware that certain food and drinks can actually harm your teeth?

It is always a good idea to be mindful of what we consume as it directly impacts our overall well-being, including our oral hygiene.  Do you recall that infamous saying, ‘you are what you eat’?  The truth is that these  words start to ring true as soon as food passes our lips.

When it comes to maintaining healthy teeth, many people focus solely on brushing and flossing. However, what we eat and drink plays a significant role in the health of our teeth as well. Unfortunately for us, some common and much-loved food and beverages can cause serious teeth damage over time.  

That’s where this blog comes in – by understanding the potential harm caused by these items, you can make informed choices about what you consume and take steps to protect your precious smile. Let’s dive in and take a good look at how certain food and drinks can negatively impact your dental health, causing teeth decay and damage to teeth.  Don’t worry, we’re here to provide you with valuable insights on how to mitigate these risks and maintain a healthy smile. So keep reading to discover the surprising culprits that may be damaging your teeth without you even realising it.

Firstly, let’s get to grips with what actual damage is occurring.  The key word here is plaque.  Some food and beverages cause a build-up of plaque, a common dental issue that affects millions of people worldwide. Plaque is a sticky, colourless film that forms on the teeth and along the gumline. This film is made up of bacteria, food particles, and saliva.

When plaque is not removed through regular brushing and flossing, it can harden into tartar or calculus. Tartar build-up can lead to various dental problems such as tooth decay, gum disease, and bad breath.  When we eat a sugary food, the consequence is a release of acids that go on to attach our tooth enamel.  When the enamel breaks down, tooth cavities develop.  Cavities cause those nasty complications such as pain and abscesses, which is why we advise you to brush your adult teeth twice per day and be aware of the items detailed below.

Sweet foods – especially processed  foods with added sugar such as:

Cakes, biscuits, sweets, chocolate, flavoured milks, yoghurts, added-sugar breakfast cereals, cereal bars, jams, canned fruit.

Sauces such as jars of pasta sauce, marinades, stir fry sauces, ketchup, chocolate sauce, biscuit spread.

Foods with naturally occuring sugars such as honey, agave nectar, and maple syrup.

Snack high in carbohydrates

Crisps are high in starch, which turns into sugar and gets stuck between your teeth, feeding plaque, bacteria and eventually resulting in tooth decay.  An additional consequence of eating crisps is a dry mouth.  Saliva is important for keeping food from becoming stuck between teeth.  Saliva also plays a virtual role in repairing gum disease, tooth decay and keeping oral infections at bay.  A dry mouth lowers your saliva level, preventing it from playing its role in protecting your oral health.

Bread is a food you might not expect to feature here, but just like crisps, chewing the bread turns the starches into sugar, which gets stuck between teeth contributing to the creation of cavities.

The next time you crave carbs, opt for less-refined varieties such as wholewheat products, which contain less added sugars that don’t break down easily.

Soft drinks

When it comes to drinks, fizzy drinks are top of our culprit list.  Full sugar fizzy drinks cause the worst erosion of teeth of any food and drink.  As well as causing serious dental erosion, many darker coloured fizzy drinks also stain out teeth, as weakened enamel is more likely to stain yellow.

Even low-sugar, sugar-free, and diet varieties of these drinks cause corrosion of our teeth.  The acid produced from the bacteria and our sugar in our mouths combining, damages our teeth by dissolving the enamel. Some diet fizzy drinks contain phosphoric and citric acid and full-sugar fizzy drinks contain up to ten teaspoons of sugar in a single serving.

Innocent looking fruit juices are also cause for concern.  Many juices are made up of citrus food items, such as oranges and limes, which as acidic foods erode enamel and result in teeth that are increasingly vulnerable to decay.

Sports drinks contain acids and sugars, which both contribute to tooth decay.  These energy drinks also contain a certain type of dye, which causes discolouration of teeth.

Tea & Coffee

‘If it stains your clothes, it stains your teeth’!  The tannins in coffee and tea result in a yellow-tinged colour being left behind on your teeth.  Additionally, the acids produced from these drinks cause tooth decay.

Alcohol

Alcoholic beverages cause our mouths to dry out, so just the same as when consuming crisps and bread, our mouth lacks in saliva, which is essential for maintaining healthy teeth.  It is a good idea to keep your mouth as hydrated as possible by drinking plenty of water.  

Healthier choices

While we know the food and drink items above are not good choices for our oral hygiene, what do good options look like for our teeth?  Better options for preventing tooth decay and staining include:

Fruit and vegetables, which helps keep our teeth and gums clean and increases the movement of our saliva.

Dairy items such as cheese, milk, plain sugar-free yoghurt, which are also helpful in making saliva and increasing its flow around the mouth.  These options are also rich in calcium,  which adds minerals to our teeth and builds enamel, which might have been lost due to the damage caused by consuming poorer food and drink choices.

Green and black teas, which both contain polyphenols that kill and prevent bacteria and the subsequent acid that attacks our teeth. Depending on the type of water you use to brew your hot drinks, a mug of tea can also be a healthy source of fluoride.

Sugarless chewing gum. This is another great saliva maker that removes food particles from our mouths.

Other food and drink products that contain fluoride, which helps our teeth avoid damage and decay.