Want to Please Your Dentist? Food Tips for Better Teeth

While there may be nothing more important than dental hygiene and regular trips to the dentist when it comes to taking care of your teeth, what you eat has a big impact on your oral health. It's far easier for someone who eats all of the right foods to avoid cavities and gum disease, even with a lax attitude towards hygiene, then someone who eats all of the wrong foods, even if they brush and floss every day. If you want your dental professional to smile when you open wide, here are some of the foods you should avoid and some you should make it a point to consume.

Calcium

It has long been a "fact" that taking in a lot of calcium will help your bones and teeth stay strong and healthy. Unfortunately, the link between the two may be overstated. At the very least, the prospect of consuming a great deal of calcium as a child and growing up to have strong teeth is unproven by science. That's not to say that drinking milk is going to cause problems, but it may not have the beneficial effects you're looking for. A far better solution is to avoid soda, which has a leeching effect on calcium in the body.

Candy

There are a number of reasons to avoid candy. Not only is it bad for your waistline, it can have dramatic consequences for your teeth. Hard candy has been known to break teeth, tear out fillings, and even cut gum tissue. That's not even getting into the effects of the sugar itself, which is directly responsible for bacteria that can lead to cavities. If you want to please your dentist, at least pass on the sugary candy for something with sugar alcohol, which, in some ways, can have the opposite effect. Still, you must be careful with hard and sticky candies, especially if you've had extensive dental work.

Stains

It seems that many adults are more concerned with keeping their teeth while than actually keeping them healthy. While this is an unfortunate priority shift, avoiding coffee, soda, wine, and tobacco can ensure that your teeth don't become stained and discolored. While avoiding soda and tobacco has innumerable health benefits, coffee and red wine have been shown to have positive health effects. As long as you brush shortly after consuming these beverages, you shouldn't have to worry about stains. Either way, your dentist is much more concerned about decay and disease than a few stains.