How to Avoid Tooth Decay from Foods

We all know that sugar is bad for us in general, and its specifically bad for our teeth.

Lots of foods have sugar in them, some are obvious, others may be a surprise.

Lets look at the basic way sugar effects our teeth, and some of the surprising foods that can be harmful, and we will look at some (not so terrible) alternatives.

How does Sugar Destroy Your Smile

Its all about feeding bacteria.

We all have bacteria in our mouths, and this is normal and healthy.

Some bacteria feed on simple sugars, and when they do this, they release acids, and its really the acids that will soften your teeth, and let bacteria get deeper into the tooth.

So the real problem isn't the sugar, its the acid created by the bacteria.

The body has natural defence mechanisms to combat acids in the mouth, and the most important is your saliva.

Saliva has things called buffers in it, and this helps to neutralise the acids in the mouth.

There are certain times that you produce more saliva than others, so sometimes your mouth is more protected than at other times.

Now, we can take this information to basically "hack" our system a little, we can be clever about having sweet treats, and minimise the potential damage to our teeth.

Fruit vs Juice

Do you make fruit smoothies? Did you think that fruit is really healthy?

Okay, it's better than a Mars bar, but fruits do contain fructose; a simple sugar. The other simple sugar is Sucrose, and normal table sugar is usually a combination of the two.

When you eat a real fruit (not blended) then you are forced to chew. Chewing increases your saliva flow, and therefore its protection.

If you make a smoothy, you will not be chewing, so your salivary flow is low, meaning that you don't have as much protection.

Summary, eating the fruit is better than drinking it.

On a side note, digestion starts in the mouth, so by drinking the fruit, you will mostly skip this bit, you will cause a bigger insulin spike (and this is bad for general health).

Coke vs Diet Coke

Both are bad - but one has no sugar, and no calories!

You may have figured this one out already, it's the acidity of the drink. Both are very acidic.

So you may not be feeding bacteria to create acid, in both cases here you are just going straight to the acid!

We have seen amateur sports people with really rotten teeth, because they have lots of sports drinks. These are both high in sugar, and acidic and when combined with their frequency results in that bacteria being fed.

Frequency of Sugar

When you have something sweet or acidic, your saliva will start to get your mouth back to normal, but this is a slow process, it can take over an hour to get back to normal.

So that one can of Coke you had, is "working" on your teeth for over an hour.

Let's say then, that you have something sweet again after an hour and a half.

This means that your mouth is acidic more time than it's neutral - so your teeth are being attacked more often than they are being protected.

Holes will start when the balance is tipped like this.

So the better thing to do (assuming you have to have these things in the first place) is to have them in one sitting.

Snacking on sweet things will destroy your teeth and it will mean bigger and bigger dental problems.

Sweet things Late in the Evening

Our salivary rate is not the same all day long, it will reduce at night - to almost nothing.

This means that if you have something sweet later in the evening, it will continue to damage your teeth all night long.

Of course, we can brush our teeth, but not everyone does this every night.

AND, if your teeth are not perfectly straight, there may be areas that you are missing with your brush, so that sweet thing you ate will hide away in the areas that you cannot reach.

Increasing your Protection

Brushing is probably the best known way to protect your teeth, but again, you need to be clever about this.

If you have just had a can on Coke, then the enamel of your teeth will be softer (this is what acid does). So if you brush now, you will wear it away. Brushing is helpful an hour or so after eating, and before you have breakfast in the morning.

We have seen some patients who will brush their teeth after a glass of orange juice in the morning, and this is the same problem, the orange juice is acidic, and this is the quickest way to strip off all the enamel from your teeth!

Gum

Sugar free gum is actually a really good thinG to have, it increases your saliva flow, because of the chewing action.

This is probably the best way to protect your teeth straight after having something sweet or acidic.

Your Cleaning Regime

As I mentioned earlier, if your teeth are not perfectly straight, then it can be tricky to clean them effectively.

If you have rough edges from crowns or fillings that have not been carried out as well as they could have been. These areas will attract plaque and will always be a high risk area for tooth decay. for this reason, it is even more important that your dentist or therapist takes x rays regularly to check in between the back teeth, especially if you have fillings or crowns.

If you have no fillings or crowns, then in theory it will be easier for you to maintain a perfect healthy mouth, as long as you are aware of where damage can come from.