With more and more of our food in today’s world being pre-processed, it can be a challenging task to find healthy food – let alone food that promotes natural oral health. However, with a bit of research and willingness to spend more time scouring the shelves at your local supermarket, it’s easier than you’d think to find food that helps you naturally achieve optimal oral health.
There is a lot of information on this topic available on the internet, but the best place to go for answers about tooth-friendly food is your dentist. If you need to find a dentist, Opt In Dental Advantage is a great site where you can search a large database of dentists, read their reviews, and find one that suits your needs. Using Opt In’s search tool is a more effective way to find helpful dentists than simply typing “dentist near me” into Google.
If you have any specific questions about types of food and their correlation to tooth health, we highly recommend speaking with your dentist. With that in mind, however, we do want to point you in the right direction by discussing a few of the foods proven over time to be great for the promotion of natural oral health.
Let’s take a look at some of those foods now.
Cheese
You’ll definitely want to brush your teeth after eating this food, especially if you have a date any time soon, but cheese is a surprisingly great food to eat in order to make your mouth healthier. Buying organic cheese without added preservatives is obviously the way to go if you’re serious about natural oral health.
Cheese is such a great food for your oral health for a few reasons:
- It’s full of calcium and protein, two ingredients that are key to strengthening enamel. Without healthy, strong enamel your teeth are at a much higher risk for decay, and loss of enamel can even lead to periodontal disease.
- Cheese also requires your mouth to produce more saliva in order for your body to break it down. Saliva contains a bevy of minerals and proteins that naturally help your teeth stay strong. Nearly any food that forces your mouth to produce more saliva will be a great option to bolster your natural oral health.
Yogurt
Cheese and yogurt are very similar in terms of why they’re so great at promoting natural oral health, since they’re both dairy products. However, according to Colgate, yogurt contains a specific kind of bacteria that does wonders for your mouth’s health. Bad bacteria gathers on your teeth and settles in your gum line, and if left untreated, it will cause gum disease. However, yogurt contains a good bacteria that settles in and “pushes out” the bad bacteria, promoting better gum health and also ridding your mouth of the bacteria that cause cavities.
Tea
According to LiveScience, tea is another great item to add to your diet if you want a healthier mouth thanks to all-natural ingredients. Certain compounds found in black and green teas have been proven by researchers at the University of Illinois to slow the growth of bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease.
If you’re not the biggest tea drinker out there, you can reap its benefits other ways as well. Rinsing your teeth with black tea decreases the amount of plaque buildup on your tooth’s surface.
Sugarless Gum
Gum is rarely associated with good oral health, but there are some great benefits to gum if you choose the right kind. Sugarless gum does the same thing as cheese and yogurt – it promotes the production of saliva in your mouth, almost cleaning your teeth for you. While gum isn’t the most natural of all foods out there, and hardly counts as a food anyways, it’s great to use between meals in order to keep your mouth feeling fresh and healthy all day long.
Cranberries
Cranberry juice has already long been proven to help your urinary system health, but cranberries themselves are great for your teeth. They contain the same compounds black and green teas do which prevent plaque buildup on your teeth. Once again, this reduces the chance of cavities and other tooth-decay issues caused by excessive plaque buildup.
Apples
An apple a day may not be all you need to keep the doctor away, but it does keep your dentist happy. While most dentists will advise their patients to steer clear of sweet foods, certain fruits (like cranberries and apples) are great for the promotion of natural oral health.
Eating an apple has nearly the same effect on your teeth as brushing does. Apples force your mouth to produce more saliva, which helps restore enamel to your teeth and rinses away food particles and plaque. Additionally, the fibrous texture of apples stimulates your gums, making sure they’re working to rid your mouth of the bad bacteria that can cause gum disease.
Now, don’t think that you can replace brushing your teeth with apple eating. But if you can’t brush your teeth for a while and need to clean your mouth out, an apple is a great option.
Eating a healthy diet has many impacts on your life, but eating the above foods will not only help your body stay healthy and keep you in shape, but they’ll also promote natural oral health. If you have any questions about other tooth-friendly foods, contact your dentist today.