Foods to eat and avoid to protect your teeth.

Protecting your oral health is also protecting your overall health. Besides proper oral hygiene, a balanced diet also plays a role in protecting your teeth. Below are some foods you should and shouldn't eat if you want healthy teeth:

Foods to avoid

Sweets, caramel candies, slow-melting sugar

Because candy sticks and clings tightly to the surface of teeth and also takes a long time to dissolve, it is very harmful. Hard candy can damage teeth when bitten.

Acidic foods

Many people believe that sucking on lemons is a remedy for whitening teeth. In reality, this is very harmful to teeth. After eating oranges, lemons, tomatoes, and grapes, teeth should be thoroughly brushed.

Chewable tablets

Some chewable vitamin tablets contain acids that are harmful to teeth when they stick to them. Even health drinks and liquid vitamins aren't good for dental health.

Starchy foods

We tend to eat a lot of starchy foods without knowing the underlying harm. French fries, white bread, pizza, pasta, and hamburgers can easily get stuck between teeth. These starches aren't as sweet as sugar, but the starch in these foods converts into sugar almost immediately because the pre-digestion process begins in the mouth. This sugar is harmful and causes the enamel to gradually lose calcium.

Soft drinks, sports drinks

Sugary drinks like soda and sports drinks are especially harmful to teeth if consumed regularly, particularly for children. Besides being high in sugar, most of these drinks also contain phosphoric and citric acids that erode tooth enamel.

Sipping on a sugary drink continuously for hours only increases the harm, so it's best to drink it all at once if you do.

Tea, a sugar-free and milk-free beverage, has a positive effect on teeth due to its anti-cancer properties and ability to prevent cavities. However, iced teas also contain flavor-enhancing organic acids that can erode tooth enamel.

Dried fruits

Between meals, you often eat dried fruit instead of processed fruit, unaware that dried fruit can be harmful to your teeth because of its concentrated sugar content that sticks to them. Raisins, prunes, and apricots easily stick to teeth, and the sugar in them activates bacteria in the mouth and erodes tooth enamel. Dried fruit contains insoluble cellulose fiber, which can trap sugar on and around teeth, causing damage.

However, eating fresh fruit is not harmful because, although it also contains sugar, it doesn't stick to your teeth and saliva can clean it off.

Alcohol and wine

Saliva in the mouth helps wash away food debris and protects against acidic foods, so when alcohol inhibits saliva production, it can harm teeth, leading to gum disease and even oral cancer. If drunk excessively, the acidic components in wine erode tooth enamel, making teeth porous and discolored.

Foods you should eat

Water

You should rinse your mouth with water after every meal/drink (hot/cold drinks).

Dairy products

Milk, curd, cheese, and many other dairy products contain essential vitamins and minerals, providing the calcium necessary for healthy teeth.

Fruits and vegetables

Foods high in fiber can help keep your teeth clean. Crunchy, juicy fruits and vegetables like cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupes, apples, and pears have a high water content that compensates for the fructose.

Hard-shelled nuts

Vitamins, minerals, calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, and other nutrients found in nuts like almonds, walnuts, cashews, and peanuts are great for your teeth.

Green tea

A cup of green tea contains polyphenols that help inhibit bacteria and may fight cavities and plaque. Coffee and cocoa are also beneficial.

It's important to remember not to brush your teeth immediately after drinking alcohol or eating acidic foods or sugary carbonated drinks, otherwise your enamel will wear away faster. Rinse your mouth with clean water, wait about half an hour for your saliva to do its job, and then brush your teeth.

According to SKĐS/Time of India