Eating Right for Healthy Teeth Means More than Avoidance of Unhealthy Foods: Top 10 Foods to Increase or Add to Your Diet

It’s a given that sugar-laden foods wreak havoc on teeth and require extra-vigilant hygiene to keep teeth healthy. But you can do more than avoid certain foods to help your smile. Following are 10 teeth-toughening foods to increase or add to your diet.

Celery

Because celery is coarse and requires a lot of chewing, eating it produces extra saliva, which neutralizes the bacteria that causes cavities. Additionally, chomping on naturally abrasive foods massages gums and cleans between teeth.

Cheese

With its low carbohydrate and high calcium and phosphate content, cheese helps balance the pH in your mouth, which decreases decay, preserves and rebuilds tooth enamel, and helps to produce saliva.

Green Tea

Green tea contains catechins that kill the bacteria in your mouth that turn sugar into plaque. Catechins also kill the bacteria that cause bad breath.

Kiwis

Kiwis pack more vitamin C than any other fruit and vitamin C is necessary to prevent the breakdown of collagen in your gums. Too little vitamin C is often a precursor to periodontal disease.

Onions

Onions contain powerful antibacterial sulfur compounds that kill the bacteria in your mouth associated with cavities and bad breath. Eating them raw is best.

Parsley and Mint

Great for bad breath, these herbs contain monoterpenes, volatile substances that travel quickly from your bloodstream to your lungs, where their odor is released via your breath. Best if eaten after a particularly pungent meal.

Sesame Seeds

Chewing sesame seeds is a great way to cleanse the teeth of plaque and help build tooth enamel. They’re also high in calcium, which helps preserve the bone around your teeth and gums.

Shiitake Mushrooms

The sugar found in abundance in shiitake mushrooms is a great plaque fighter. Like other teeth-toughening foods, raw is better than cooked.

Wasabi

The isothiocyanates in wasabi—those chemicals that provide the wicked bite in the Japanese root served often with sushi and sashimi—also inhibit the growth of cavity-causing bacteria.

Plain Old Water

Drinking water keeps your gums hydrated and is the best way to stimulate saliva production—your body's greatest defense against the bacteria that cause plaque and cavities. Rinsing your mouth with water also helps wash away trapped food particles that decompose in the mouth and cause bad breath.

For questions about dentures, dental implants, periodontal disease or general dentistry including accelerated orthodontics, call the Ferber Dental Group a 561-439-8888 or visit http://www.ferberdental.com.