Tips to Avoid Dental Tooth Decay While Snacking

The consequence of certain foods and snacks on your teeth can depend on not only what you eat, but also when you eat and in which order particular foods are eaten.  According to a dentist at Dental North York, following a meal, the pH level in your mouth often drops and your mouth becomes more acidic, a possible harmful situation for your teeth.  After a meal, eating cheese or nuts can help clear the mouth of trace carbohydrates, and my even help reset the mouth’s pH to decrease dental north york plaque formation.  Consuming cheese also results in an increase the quantity of saliva in the mouth, which helps wash away food particles.  Cheese can neutralize the acids in the mouth and help sustain a pH balance that is safe for teeth as well as provide a coating of calcium.

Dried fruit products such as raisins might make for a nourishing snack or gratify the need for something sweet after a meal, be mindful that their sticky nature makes them to prone to stick to dental tooth surfaces, allowing bacteria present in the mouth to feed off the sugars, promoting plaque development and ensuing dental tooth decay.  According to dentist Richmond Hill, these foods seem to be a healthy snack, but they actually make bad stand-alone snacks from a dental standpoint unless you are able to wash and brush away the leftovers after eating.  Consuming them with a meal is a better alternative, as the meal will stimulate the release of more saliva in the mouth, which will help wash away sugar and carbohydrates.

When choosing a soft drink, many of health conscious people will choose a diet soft drink over a regular one thinking that substituting the sugar with a low calorie sweetener will help not only our body weight, but our teeth too.  Unfortunately, as your dentist richmond hill will tell you, the effect on teeth is nearly as bad with a diet drink as a regular one.  This is because the phosphoric and citric acids in all soft drinks, whether diet or regular, are consumed throughout the day, the teeth are continuously bathed in acid.  The consequence is that, as the dental enamel dissolves and the underlying tooth structure (dentin) is uncovered, leaving the tooth vulnerable to sensitivity and dental cavity development.  Make an effort to replace your soda with plain water instead, or if you do desire a soft drink, it is better to drink it all at once instead of sipping it throughout a long duration of time.

The next time you are yearning for a snack, take your teeth into consideration.  Healthy snacks include:  raw vegetable sticks, unbuttered popcorn, yogurt with fruit, fresh fruit, nuts and cubes of cheese.  The more frequent you consume foods with natural or added sugars, the higher your chance of dental tooth decay.