6 foods for healthy teeth
Dr. D.Sendhil Nathan MDS, DNB Prosthodontics And Implantology
Good oral care is not just brushing and flossing your teeth. It extends to getting regular dental check-ups, neglecting various foods, consuming various supercharged foods for teeth and so on. Your dentist might recommend you various fruits and veggies for your tooth’s well-being. Right?
This post deals with the list of functional foods that will keep your teeth clean, strong and healthy.
1) Cheese
If you enlist tooth-friendly foods, dairy products especially cheese will stand top in the list. This is because cheese is an excellent source of bone fortifying calcium and casein proteins that are vital to strengthen and repair teeth enamel. Enamel is the white-colored hard covering that encapsulates a tooth’s soft and sensitive tissues.
Besides this, eating cheese also raises the pH level in the mouth. It helps in neutralizing the acidic environment left by the foods you take and lowered the risk of plaque build-up, tooth decay, gum diseases, etc.
2) Green Tea
Green tea contains a compound called “Polyphenols” that is powerful to suppress the bacteria producing cavities and nasty smell in our mouth.
Researches show that people taking green tea after having meals are less prone to tooth decay, plaque depositions. It is because the fluid holds healthy bacteria and antioxidants that can kill the acid-producing bacteria that lead to enamel Moreover, green tea also contains fluoride, the devastating natural mineral to remineralize the weakened enamel.
Tip: If you don’t like the flavor of green tea, then you can consume black tea. It also contains the active compounds to protect your teeth and gums but excess consumption of green tea will stain your teeth.
3) Fatty fish
As mentioned earlier, taking calcium-rich foods will benefit your oral health but you should have Vitamin D to absorb the calcium from foods you eat. Among many Vitamin D rich foods, we are mentioning fish because it has been observed that polyunsaturated fatty acids (Omega 3s) in fatty fishes are powerful in curing periodontitis.
If you are a non-vegetarian and loves to have a healthy mouth, then add fatty fishes like Salmon, Anchovies and Sardines in your diet.
4) Leafy Greens
Leafy greens like spinach, broccoli, celery leaves are loaded with tons of nutrients and fibers. They required a lot of chewing to break down the fibers and it will produce more saliva that effectively swishes away the stains, debris stuck in the minute spaces between the teeth.
Here are some of the leafy greens that ensure healthy mouths ad pearly white smiles:
- Spinach
- Mustard Greens
- Lingru
- Celery leaves
- Black Nightshade
- False Daisy
- Adamant creeper
- Red Amaranthus
- Chenopodium album
- Kale
- Microgreens
- Collard Greens
- Beet Greens
5) Cranberries
Cranberries also contain Polyphenols that have the potent to kill the oral bacteria and prevent the acid attacks caused by the microbes on teeth as we have seen in green tea. Dental doctors suggest this fruit as a natural remedy to prevent tooth decay, plaque and tartar build-up, gum diseases, etc.
As it is quick dark in color and sour in flavor, we suggest you take the juice extracted from the fruit through a straw to avoid tooth discoloration.
6) Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potato is an excellent source of Vitamin A that can strengthen soft tissues and membranes in the gums. Moreover, the sweet potatoes help our body to maintain the keratin protein required to develop and remineralize the enamel.
The sweet flavor of this toot vegetable ensures a delightful dish. So you can steam, fry, bake, boil or mash the sweet potatoes to cook.
Apart from the tooth-friendly foods we have described, crunchy fruits like apples, strawberries, vegetables like carrot, Vitamin-rich foods like raisins, almonds also help you to fortify your oral health.
