Top 10 Nutrition Tips for Healthy Teeth!

A healthy mouth is so important for good nutrition and good nutrition helps keep our mouth healthy! In honour of Oral Health Month check out our top 10 nutrition tips for terrific teeth!

1. Make water your drink of choice
   Drinking water throughout the day helps wash away bits of food or bacteria that may stick to your teeth. Drinking water also helps prevent dry mouth and helps your mouth make saliva.
   
2. Avoid drinks like fruit juice and soda
   The sugar in these drinks easily coat your teeth. The bacteria that live in your mouth start eating the sugar and turning it into an acid. This acid can break down the protective layer of your teeth called enamel. When this protective layer gets weaker your teeth can start to breakdown leading to tooth decay and holes in your teeth called cavities.
   
3. Limit diet or sugar free beverages like diet soda
   These drinks do not contain sugar, but they are acidic and can still damage your
   teeth. If you are going to have these drinks, try having them with a meal instead of sipping on them throughout the day. Using a straw can help stop the drinks from touching your teeth.
   
4. Get enough calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D
   These minerals can be found in the foods you eat and are so important for
   building and keeping teeth healthy and strong. Dairy products like milk and cheese are great sources of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D. Calcium can also be found in canned fish with bones, almonds, and leafy greens. Meat and other proteins like beans and nuts and seeds are food sources of phosphorus. Vitamin D can be found in fatty fish like salmon or trout.
   
5. Snack on fibre filled foods
   Munching on fibre filled foods can help clean your teeth by removing leftover bits of food and making your mouth produce more saliva. Saliva helps wash away harmful bacteria and acids that can damage your teeth. Try crunchy fruits and vegetables like celery, carrots, and broccoli or apples and pears. Nuts like peanuts, almonds or seeds like sunflower or pumpkin seeds are also great fibrous snacks.
   
6. Limit the amount of sugar you eat
   It is a good idea to look at the ingredients list on food packages to see if there is added sugar in the foods you eat. If sugar is the first ingredient that means, there is more sugar than any other ingredient. The nutrition facts table can tell you if a product has a lot of sugar or a little bit. Foods with 15%DV of sugar or more is considered a lot, 5% or less is a little.
   
7. If you are having sugary foods have them as part of a meal
   Your mouth makes more saliva during a meal than it does for a small snack. By
   having sugary foods with your meal your mouth can make enough saliva to help wash the sugar away and prevent it from staying on your teeth. It is also a good idea to avoid sticky sweets that are difficult to remove from your teeth or sweets that stay in your mouth for a long time like lollipops or other hard candies.
   
8. Brush your teeth 20-30 minutes after you eat
   If you can’t brush your teeth after eating, try rinsing your mouth with
   water, eat a fibre filled fruit or raw vegetable or chew a piece of sugar free gum. Ideally teeth should be brushed after every meal. At the very least brush your teeth twice a day including right before bed.
   
9. Keep children’s teeth healthy!
   Avoid putting children to bed with a bottle of milk as the milk stays in the mouth
   for a long time and can cause cavities. Fruit juice and other sweetened beverages should never be put in a baby bottle. Give children water to drink between meals instead of juice. Unsweetened juices still have sugar in them. Sipping on juice or soda throughout the day keeps sugar in the mouth for a long time.
   
10. Last but not least, remember to visit your dentist for regular check-ups and cleanings!

References

Canadian Dental Association. (2022). Nutrition. Retrieved March 19, 2022
Canadian Dental Association. (2022). Nutrition for Children. Retrieved March 19, 2022
Canadian Dental Association. National Oral Health Month. Retrieved March 19, 2022
Government of Canada. (2019, November 25). Oral Health for Adults. Canada.ca. Retrieved March 19, 2022
Government of Canada. (2018, February 9). Sugars. Canada.ca. Retrieved March 19, 2022