What you eat and how often you eat it can affect your teeth.
Certain eating patterns and food choices can lead to tooth erosion and cavities. A steady supply of sugary foods and drinks, including sports drinks, sodas and energy drinks, can damage your teeth. Even snacking on healthy foods like oranges or dried fruit can increase your risk of erosion and cavities.
Plaque is a sticky film of bacteria that forms on your teeth. When this plaque is not removed it can build up. The bacteria in plaque creates acid from eating the sugars found in what you eat and drink. This acid attacks the hard surface of your tooth called enamel. The acid stays on the enamel for up to 20 minutes after you are finished eating or drinking. Eventually, your enamel can wear away from these acids and cavities will start to form.
Cavities do not go away on their own and must be treated.
When you have sugary foods or drinks numerous times through the day, your enamel is exposed to acid attacks, which raises your risk of tooth erosion and cavities.
How To Lower Your Risk Of Cavities:
- Avoid sugary drinks when possible.
- Limit snacks between meals and choose foods that are low in sugar.
- If you do have sugary foods and drinks, have them with meals. Saliva increases during meals which can help rinse bits of food from your mouth.
- Chew sugarless gum after meals which has been proven to increase saliva and reduce cavities.
- Drink water with fluoride.
- Visit us regularly to identify cavities early before major problems arise.
