While brushing and flossing are core to lifelong oral health, food plays a significant role in keeping your family's smile healthy. Here, we at Smile Town Burnaby propose 5 ideas for making your dinners more oral health-friendly.
Trade Soda for Water With Your Meal
Soda is often a major factor in developing tooth decay. If your family frequently drinks soda at dinner-time, consider replacing it with water.
Not only will you reduce the amount of processed sugar and acids, but water is excellent at washing away food bits and bacteria without leaving any sugary residue.
If your water is fluoridated, drinking it with dinner will also strengthen your teeth and help prevent tooth decay.
Include Oral Health-Friendly Foods
When considering which foods are best for your oral health, avoiding processed sugar is only the start.
Dairy products wash away bacteria by promoting salivation and strengthen your teeth with calcium. Garlic has strong anti-microbial properties which fight bacteria in your mouth. And fish like salmon help maintain your teeth's enamel with their phosphorus content.
There are many delicious foods which don't just have low sugar, but actively promote oral health. And we think that is worth changing things up a bit at the dinner table.
Avoid Sticky Deserts
When it comes to dessert, natural sugars are good alternatives to processed sugars. Fruit can all be a sweet treat too! Apples, pears and oranges are tasty raw or prepared in all sorts of exciting ways.
If you are going to have a sweet treat with processed sugars, you should avoid treats that remain in your mouth for a long time.
Sticky, chewy desserts and hard candies are the major culprits here. And, to wash to sugars out of your mouth, you should drink water with any dessert you have.
Finish With Salad
Raw vegetables are great for your oral health. Crunchy vegetables like carrots and celery clean your teeth as you eat them! Leafy greens like kale, spinach, and lettuce are high in Vitamin C and other oral health-friendly nutrients.
But what you eat isn't everything, when you eat it can also promote dinnertime oral health.
Eating foods that promote salivate and scrub your teeth like raw vegetables are clean your mouth most effectively after you've eaten your meal.
So, next dinnertime, your mouth will thank you for eating your salad last.
A Little Cup Of Tea Goes A Long Way
If you and your family like to have tea or coffee after dinner, you are actually promoting your oral health!
Tea and coffee contain polyphenols, which can reduce mouth inflammation. Drinking an after-dinner beverage can wash remaining food bits out of your mouth too.