Top 5 foods and drinks that can benefit your oral health

Here’s something you may not have known – our oral health directly impacts our social, emotional and physical health. Your mouth is a very delicately balanced environment that needs to be kept clean in order to avoid causing you any long-term problems.

In other words, if you’re keeping good oral hygiene, then in terms of social and mental health, you’re saving yourself not only from dental decay and tooth loss, and all the stress that involves. You’re also doing yourself a big favour by lessening your future risk of heart disease, diabetes and respiratory conditions, leaving you even happier and healthier in years to come.

As experts in dental treatments here at AP Smilecare, we know all the ways in which your oral health affects the quality of your life. This is why we thought of sharing the top 7 food and drinks that can significantly benefit your oral health. So, let’s get started!

#1 Lean Meat and Fish

Lean beef and fish like wild salmon and tuna all help to reduce your chances of cavities, unnecessary tooth pain and premature tooth yellowing. They do that by having an abundance of phosphorus – it’s a mineral that helps protect and strengthen your tooth enamel and prevents erosion.

#2 Celery

Who doesn’t like foods that have multiple benefits? Not only does celery promote gum health but it also produces saliva, which in turn helps in neutralising certain bacteria that stand as a threat to our overall oral health.

It also helps us to process calcium! As you may know, calcium nourishes your teeth and strengthens them; the most interesting bit here is that our body cannot break down the calcium without vitamin K. That means foods that have a great source of vitamin K, like celery, can help our bodies break down that calcium and benefit from the proteins within it – and that’s what strengthens our teeth!

#3 Water

Ah yes, the humble H20. Each sip of water helps to wash away all the bad bacteria and remnants of food that often get stuck in between our teeth and cause them to decay over time. It also helps in fighting bad breath and cavities. The cleaner your mouth, the stronger your teeth will stay, so it’s a great idea to drink plenty of water throughout the day. You can also use water to gargle right after meals. This is when your teeth are exposed to the most sugars, acids and other damaging agents, so gargling here can be useful in preventing tooth decay!

#4 Carrot juice

Well, all of us grew up learning the benefits of carrots – how it helps in improving our eyesight and how it brings a glow to our skin. But who knew that carrot juice could also be useful when it comes to maintaining oral health? Lucky for all of us, carrot juice is a great source of vitamin A and beta-carotene, which repairs and further strengthens the tooth enamel. Let’s be honest, carrot juice is a relatively rare ingredient in most people’s daily diets, but it’s definitely worth thinking about including it in yours!

#5 Milk and dairy products

In our fight against tooth decay, let us introduce you to other strong allies – milk, cheese and natural yoghurt! Milk gives you calcium that nourishes your teeth, and cheese neutralises certain harmful acids in your mouth, maintaining the right ph levels, and keeping that delicate environment carefully balanced.

Plain yoghurt on the other hand contains probiotics – a type of good bacteria, to outnumber the bad bacteria in your mouth, which is often the main cause of bad breath and cavities.

These are just a couple of our suggestions – you might well have plenty of your own! Whatever you decide to incorporate into your diet though, at AP Smilecare we’re always here to help.

We are a team of dental experts who are passionate about taking care of your oral hygiene. Our cosmetic dental treatments put you and your well-being first – including dental implants, dentures and smile makeovers, and emergency dental care, to name but a few. So, if there’s anything related to oral health that might concern you, we’re right here to help you out! All you need to do is get in touch with us, and everything else will be taken care of. Just give us a call on 01254 297 000, or stop by our dental clinic in Blackburn, and we’ll be happy to see how we can help.