Everybody knows that eating sweet and sugary foods is bad for your teeth. This is because they contain starch, which reacts with plaque acid to speed up the process of enamel erosion. It is also because sugary foods are often very sticky and cling to the teeth and get caught in small gaps in the mouth. If you do not rinse your mouth with water or brush your teeth soon after eating, the sugar will sit on the teeth causing damage. This will eventually begin to cause cavities, which are small holes that start to appear in the protective enamel. If this is not repaired it will eventually be breached and expose the soft, sensitive inner parts of the teeth top bacteria and infection. Not only will this be painful, as the bacteria will attack the dental nerve, but it could also result in lost teeth and the need for further complicated and unpleasant dental treatment.
It is therefore important to make sure you and your family are not eating more sugary foods than is safe to do so. Obviously sugary foods are fine in small amounts. We all deserve a treat once in a while and if you have kids it is more or less impossible trying to keep them away from chocolate and sweets. However, there are measures you can take to limit the amount of bad sugar they are getting but still giving them sweets.
Fruit contains sugar, but of a different less damaging and natural kind. This means that fruits like grapes and strawberries are ideal sweet treats. Dried fruit like raisins and apricots are also perfect for treating the sweet tooth but not causing any unnecessary damage. Dentists in Central Leeds are able to provide you with much more information about which foods are the most damaging to your teeth and what possible substitutes there are to replace them.
Tags: bacteria, fruits, plaque, sugary foods, sweets
