Everybody knows eating too much sugar can lead to cavities, but the link between your nutrition and your oral health is a lot more complicated than that. Plenty of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients and dietary habits impact your oral health.
Unfortunately, managing your complex nutritional needs isn’t easy, especially when your life is already busy and demanding.
At Novi Family Dentistry in Novi, Michigan, Abir Faraj, DDS, helps women and men optimize their nutrition for their oral health and overall wellness with nutritional counseling tailored to their needs.
In this post, Dr. Faraj provides an overview of the relationship between your nutrition and your oral health, along with a quick review of how nutritional counseling can help.
Nutrition and oral health share a bidirectional relationship — what you eat affects your oral health, and your oral health can affect what you eat. For example, people with missing teeth or tooth or gum pain may alter their eating habits to reduce uncomfortable symptoms, leading to a nutritional imbalance.
Sugar is probably the best-known example of how nutrition affects oral health. When you eat sugar, two things happen: Sugar interacts with bacteria in your mouth, causing those bacteria to produce acids. In turn, these acids eat away at your tooth enamel, increasing your risk of cavities.
At the same time, sugars and other carbohydrates influence the pH balance of your mouth and lead to the formation of sticky plaque film. This film harbors decay- and disease-causing bacteria, significantly increasing your risk of gum disease. Plaque eventually hardens into tartar, hardened deposits that also lead to gum disease.
Other foods can increase your risk of painful cankers or lead to gum irritation and bleeding, which in turn can make it harder to eat some nutrient-dense foods. Painful teeth make it less likely you’ll reach for crunchy foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables, increasing your risk of nutritional deficiencies that can lead to cavities and infections.
It’s easy to see, then, how nutrition and oral health share a cyclical relationship, and breaking that cycle isn’t always easy. Knowing which nutrients can improve your oral health is a good start.
Calcium and vitamin D are important for building healthy teeth, specifically building strong enamel and other layers to help your teeth ward off decay. They also help your teeth form strong roots while supporting healthy jawbone development. Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium, which is why many calcium-rich foods are fortified with the vitamin.
Yogurt, cheese, and other dairy products are good sources of calcium, and so are leafy green veggies and some fortified products. For vitamin D, fatty fish and fortified foods combined with moderate sun exposure help balance your levels.
Vitamin C is found in lots of citrus fruits, as well as tomatoes, strawberries, and broccoli. Vitamin C is especially important for maintaining the health of your gums and other soft tissues in your mouth.
Vitamin C is also acidic, so while it’s important to get plenty of this vitamin, you also need to be mindful of its effects on your tooth enamel. Rinsing after consuming large quantities of vitamin C-rich foods or drinks helps neutralize the negative effects of acid.
Phosphorus works hand-in-hand with calcium to build strong teeth and remineralize them, helping prevent enamel erosion that can lead to cavities. Whole grains, nuts, eggs, and many meats are rich in this important mineral.
B vitamins are found in lots of foods, including meat, eggs, whole grains, and dairy products. Like vitamin C, these vitamins maintain the health of the soft tissues in your mouth. Low levels of B vitamins increase your risk of developing cankers and other problems.
Vitamin A helps preserve the mucous membranes in your mouth and helps maintain saliva production. Orange vegetables, like carrots and sweet potatoes, are great sources of vitamin A, as are leafy green vegetables.
Nutritional needs can vary significantly from one person to another, and getting the right balance of nutrients is no easy task. Nutritional counseling helps identify nutritional deficiencies and poor eating habits that can lead to imbalances, tailoring an eating plan focused on helping you stay healthy.
To learn more about the connection between your nutrition and your oral health, call 313-646-7903 or book an appointment online at Novi Family Dentistry today.
