Foods You Should Limit or Avoid When Trying to Keep Healthy Teeth and Gums

The importance of oral hygiene cannot be understated when it comes to your oral health. Without the combination of a proper at-home oral hygiene routine and regular visits to your local Del Mar/Carmel Valley, California, dentist for a cleaning and exam, your oral health will not be as good as it could be. When talking about at-home care, Dr. Anu Mohan and the team at I-Rise Dental Boutique want you to realise that proper oral care is more than just brushing, flossing, and rinsing. Your diet plays a significant role in your oral health. Specifically, there are certain foods you should avoid when possible so that your teeth and gums remain healthy.

How Junk Food Affects Your Oral Health

Most junk foods consist of sugars, simple carbs, and fats. The bacteria in your mouth thrive on these components and use them as fuel to produce enamel-softening acids. In addition, a sticky film of plaque will begin to form from residual food particles. When plaque is not addressed, it will form acids, as mentioned above, which start eating into your teeth.

Foods You Should Avoid for A Healthy Mouth

Sugary/Carbonated Drinks: When sugar from these drinks combines with the bacteria already in your mouth, acids are produced, which will immediately start to wear down your enamel and lead to tooth sensitivity.

Sticky Sweets: Sticky sweets not only have a lot of sugar but also stick in the small grooves of your teeth. They are hard to remove with just a toothbrush, and because they remain longer than other food particles, the decay-causing bacteria in your mouth will feed on them and multiply.

Simple Carbs

The starches in foods like chips, white bread, and other basic starchy snacks are broken down to sugar when in contact with the saliva in your mouth. Then, your mouth reacts to these sugars, and the formed acids will wear down your enamel.

We hope this guide to some of the foods you should avoid on your journey to good oral health will be helpful to you. If you do require treatment, we hope you visit our Del Mar/Carmel Valley, California office. 

We offer treatments, including LANAP laser dentistry, to help disinfect surrounding teeth/tissues before filling your teeth to prevent the spread of decay-causing disease. 

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Mohan, please call our office today at (858) 465-8717.