Preventative Dentistry
5 Food & Drinks to Avoid
Today’s tip from your Reno, NV dentist comes in the form of food–and we don’t sugarcoat! This list is for those who’ve forgotten which drinks and foods to avoid for best preventative dentistry practices. People have a good grasp on what they should and shouldn’t eat. Raw veggies are good! Energy drinks, not so much. However, it’s always a great idea to look a little closer at the why. If only to put an end to the endless, tear-filled interrogations that accompany depriving your child of those candy bars.
Hard Candy
This stuff is bad on two levels: one, for the high sugar content, and two, for its tooth-cracking abilities. Your teeth are extremely durable, no question, but the repeated exposure to the sugars found in hard candies, paired with their cement-like composition can easily chip and crack the enamel in your mouth. So if you can’t seem to keep yourself away from those jawbreakers and the like, be sure to keep your local Reno NV dentist in mind for that moment when you discover why it is that the stuff is called “hard,” after all.
Ice
That’s right, just like hard candy, ice can cause huge damage to your teeth. While free of any sugars—or much of anything, for that matter—ice can easily chip or crack your teeth, leaving you in pain both in your mouth and in your wallet.
Coffee
In it’s purest form, coffee isn’t all that bad for you; however, with all the crazy concoctions out there consisting of nine-parts sugar to one-part coffee, perhaps you can see why this one made it on the list. Sugar being bad for your teeth is the oldest lesson in the oral hygiene book, so stick to the pure roast, and keep your mouth happy. Oh, and if you’re worried about the stains on your teeth from all that joe you’ve been drinking over the years, check out Dr. K’s Reno dental office—with an extensive list of oral, cosmetic solutions, you can surely get your pearls looking, well, pearly again.
Sticky stuff
Alright, we’ve covered the hard foods, but what about some of the sticky foods to avoid? While dried fruit is a great alternative to candy, the sticky nature of this natural snack makes it especially dangerous for your teeth if not addressed carefully. What happens here is, the food gets stuck between and in your teeth, where it eats away at your enamel.
So the next time you’re munching on some trail mix, keep a bottle of water nearby for some rinsing and make sure that great snack stays that way.
Alcohol
The boos are radiating throughout the internet for this one. Aside from the damage that sugary alcoholic drinks can cause to your mouth, alcohol alone can cause severe dehydration, leading to dry mouth. When your mouth dries out, your teeth become especially vulnerable due to the lack of good bacteria that swim around in your saliva—bet you’re hungry now, huh?
Don’t stop drinking water altogether. Keep some water nearby and save your mouth, some serious pain.