This means that eating whole foods that are rich in nutrients may be able to prevent tooth decay and gum disease, combined with regular oral hygiene habits, of course! Here’s why apples and a few other key foods might help stop cavities in their tracks.

Apples

Apples are crunchy and contain lots of water, which is essential to adequate saliva production. The firmness of apples can actually help remove plaque from your teeth while you’re chewing and keep your smile healthy throughout the day. Apples are also high in vitamin C, a nutrient that’s essential for gum health.

Carrots

Carrots, like apples, are crunchy and are great plaque-fighters. Combine this with chewing and you’ve got a toothbrush snack in your hands! Baby carrots or traditional carrots are excellent snacks for your teeth. Chewing carrots can increase saliva production, which helps nourish your teeth and stops bad bacteria from eating away at your tooth enamel.

Calcium

Calcium is an essential nutrient to your smile and fortunately is found is many foods. Foods such as unsweetened yogurts, cheese, and milk can all strengthen your teeth and help protect against cavities. If you can’t eat dairy, you’re in luck—leafy greens contain calcium too! These greens include spinach, kale, broccoli, and collard greens. Enjoy!

Celery

Celery is firm and can help scrub your teeth similarly to apples and carrots, but it also packs another advantage: it’s about 95% water. This means it’s counting towards your hydration, helping your oral bacteria, and providing you with a delicious and healthy snack. Top with peanut butter, cream cheese, or almond butter for extra flavor.

Healthy Fats

A growing body of research is showing that essential fatty acids such as omega-3s may play an important role in protecting your smile from gum disease. These omega-3 fatty acids are most present in fish. You can also receive vegetable-based forms from chia seeds, flax seeds, and avocadoes. Nuts such as walnuts are also a great source!

Foods to Avoid

Dentists often recommend avoiding processed foods, and with good reason—many of them contain sugar and refined carbohydrates, which can easily stick to teeth and cause tooth decay. Foods to avoid include soda, anything sticky and sweet (think candy), chips, and even granola bars, which can have high amounts of sugar. Reading the nutrition label and being aware of how much sugar you’re consuming can help you make healthier choices for a healthier smile.

Are you ready to fight tooth decay with these healthy foods? You don’t have to let cavities take over your smile as a result of your diet. By consuming the right foods, you can have a beautiful smile for life. With the right nutrition, regular dentist visits, and some savvy oral care techniques, you can protect your smile from decay and shine on!

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So what are the top holiday foods to give you cavities? Here are the top five foods of the season that can ruin your smile!

Candy Canes
Candy canes have basically one ingredient: sugar. We all know sugar is detrimental for your smile, but on top of that, candy canes typically require that you keep them in your mouth for a period of time in order to eat them, much like a lollipop. The more time your mouth is exposed to sugar, the greater the damage can be—this includes enamel erosion and cavities!

Candy canes are also crunchy and crunching down on this hard candy could chip or even fracture your teeth. This will not only lead to tooth damage on the outside, but could set you up for cavities as bacteria now have an alternate entry into your tooth!

Eggnog
Eggnog typically contains two ingredients that can wreak havoc on your teeth: sugar and alcohol! Sugar mixes with the natural bacteria of your mouth and turns acidic, which attacks your porous enamel and can lead to sensitive teeth and cavities. Alcohol is very corrosive on your teeth and can have a very similar effect, especially if your mouth is exposed to these ingredients for a length of time.

You can still enjoy eggnog, but sipping water afterwards is best—or you can make a healthier version of eggnog with no added sugar and very little alcohol, or eliminate the alcohol totally.

Chocolate
Milk chocolate tends to contain high amounts of sugar and can make your mouth prone to cavities. This is true for chocolate drinks as well such as hot chocolate with sugar and marshmallows. However, the good news is that dark chocolate can actually be good for you and your smile—the higher the cocoa content (think 60% or higher), the better! Get creative with dark chocolate treats that are low in sugar but high in antioxidants.

Caramel Popcorn
There are few candies that cling to teeth like caramel. It easily gets lodged in teeth, and in its hardened form, can even set teeth up for chips and fractures. Combined with popcorn, this sticky treat could give you cavities this holiday season. Enjoy caramel popcorn in moderation and always be sure to get any caramel out from between your teeth with proper brushing and flossing!

Fruitcake
Fruitcake is sweet and sticky, two properties that can causes cavities to form on your pearly whites. The sticky fruit in fruitcake can get caught between teeth and sticks to teeth, negatively affecting enamel and promoting cavity formation. Depending on how sticky your fruitcake is, it could even cause dental crowns to come loose! Enjoy fruitcake carefully this year.

Your holiday season can still have treats in it, but be mindful of how much you’re consuming. By balancing these sweet foods with a healthy diet and proper oral health care techniques, you can have a beautiful smile all holiday season long and impress your dentist at your checkup in the New Year. Happy Holidays!

The post These Holiday Foods are Most Likely to Give You Cavities appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

Although lots of food will be available, it’s important to still eat well in order to maintain your healthy smile. Sweets in moderation are fine, but avoid constantly snacking on sweet treats or sipping on sweet drinks. The longer your teeth are exposed to sugar, the more damage your teeth can incur.

It can feel difficult to be choosy about foods during a time when you have so many options—but you can help your body and your smile by still eating healthy. If you want to sip on sweet drinks, using a straw can help the sugary liquid to bypass your teeth, therefore limiting your exposure!

Water Is Your Friend

Not only does water help combat sugar’s effect on your teeth, but it can also prevent the staining that comes with drinking red wine or coffee. Staying hydrated also helps to keep your mouth’s vital oral bacteria in balance, therefore reducing your risk for cavities!

If you’re eating sugary foods or drinking sugary drinks, try to sip on water while doing so. Rinsing with water after consuming sugar can help hugely, as it prevents sugar from clinging to your teeth and damaging your enamel. If you’re drinking wine, remember that red wine can stain your teeth significantly more than white. Drinking water can help to minimize staining of your teeth and damage from the acidic alcohol.

Keep to a Routine

As busy as things can get during the holidays, don’t skip brushing or flossing just because you’re short on time. Always make it a habit to brush in the morning and brush and floss before bed. Keep a travel toothbrush in your bag and some floss just in case you forget these items while traveling or end up spending the night at a relative’s house.

If you can’t brush for whatever reason, keep a pack of sugar-free gum sweetened with xylitol with you. Chewing on gum sweetened with xylitol can help increase saliva flow, therefore helping to reduce bad bacteria and prevent cavities. Keeping to a routine during the holidays isn’t only comforting, it benefits your smile as well!

Be Prepared

Always be safe with your teeth—remember that they are not meant to open packages or crack nuts. Your beautiful smile needs to last you for life, so treat them with care and take care of them. You can be prepared for any type of dental emergency by asking your dentist for an emergency referral before the holidays. This way, should something happen, you’ll have an expert to look after your smile despite the fact that many offices are closed during the holidays.

This holiday season, you can protect your smile and keep it healthy with these easy tips. Simply by eating healthy, drinking enough water, and keeping to a routine, you can show people your beautiful pearly whites all holiday season long. Impress your dentist in the New Year by taking care of your smile during the holidays!

The post Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Smile During the Holiday Season appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

1. Use Moderation – You are obviously going to be eating some things that you normally do not have. Rather than skipping on a piece of grandma’s famous pie, just be sure that you eat a balanced meal with lots of good nutrition. A second helping of vegetables during dinner can help balance out the pH in the mouth despite a rich dessert. Just don’t eat the whole pie.

2. Be Choosey About Treats – Certain sweets are far worse on your teeth than others. For example, chocolates that are filled with sticky caramel are likely to spend more time on your enamel than just some plain chocolate. Avoiding sticky treats will help your teeth to suffer less in between brushings.

3. Keep the Toothbrush with You – Whether it is a family gathering at someone else’s home or an office party, bring your toothbrush with you, and use it. Just one note of caution. If you have a glass of wine, or something else acidic like orange juice, you will want to wait half an hour before brushing. Highly acidic foods and beverages can weaken enamel. Brushing too soon can cause damage.

4. Maintain Your Routine – Keep your toothbrush, toothpaste, and dental floss in your toiletries bag. Then be sure to maintain your routine, even if you are travelling. Plaque hardens into tartar in about 24 hours, so even skipping one day of brushing is a big deal.

5. Drink Lots of Water – Whether you are drinking it or just rinsing with it, water is an excellent way to keep your mouth clean between brushings. Plus, water helps to even out the pH and reduces how quickly bacteria can spread in the mouth.

6. Use Good Technique – Brush and floss the right way to ensure that you are getting any extra debris clear of your teeth and gums.

By maintaining a good oral care routine and using moderation at parties, at home, and at the office, you can enjoy your holiday treats and still avoid cavities.

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Treats That Aren’t So Bad for Your Smile

First of all, remember that you can have something sweet without coating your teeth in refined sugar. Try a frozen fruit snack that is made with actual fruit. This may not be something you can give out at the door, but at least you can have one or two to calm your craving as you see all the candy changing hands.

Next, you may consider salty treats over sweet ones. This is a great time to treat yourself to some pretzels or popcorn instead of the usual holiday fare. It’s still a nice treat, and you’ll still have to floss those popcorn kernels out from between your teeth, but at least there isn’t any sugar.

Finally, get some sugar-free treats like certain brands of gum or lollipops. They may use artificial sweeteners (which also are not great for your teeth), but at least they aren’t loaded with sugar. Plus, gum and hard candies cause a person to salivate. This keeps the mouth from drying out and delays the amount of time it takes for plaque to harden into tartar.

If you absolutely have to have chocolate, dark chocolate is the best for you. It has less sugar than white or milk chocolate, and many enjoy the flavor of dark chocolate more anyway. Just avoid chocolate that has a chewy filling such as caramel. If you have to have a filling in your chocolate, go for a peanut butter cup. That’s probably the least of the evils as far as your teeth are concerned.

Treats to Avoid

Now that you have a list of things to enjoy, here are a couple of things to make sure you avoid. First of all, stay away from sticky treats such as caramel and taffy. Also, avoid large, hard candies like jawbreakers. They should really call them “toothbreakers.” Gummy candies are also high in sugar and stick in the teeth making them a recipe for cavities.

However, as always, enjoy your time with loved ones and snack safely!

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One of the earliest signs that you have a cavity forming is pain. A toothache or pain when you bite down may indicate the presence of a cavity. Tooth sensitivity, if you don’t normally have it, is also a sign, as is sensitivity or pain when you eat or drink something hot, cold or sweet. Dark brown or black spots on your teeth or visible holes in your teeth are indicators of cavities. If you have any of these symptoms or signs you should see a dentist right away.

Cavities are more common in the back teeth than the front teeth, which is why you usually feel the pain caused by cavities before you can actually see them. The back teeth are less smooth than the front teeth, so it’s easier for bacteria to collect in ridges of the back teeth. These teeth are also harder to clean, which allows a greater chance of food particles being left behind.

Because cavities form gradually and are often in the back teeth, you may have a cavity of some size before you notice any symptoms. It is even possible to have a cavity and never experience any symptoms at all; not even pain. Regular dental exams, twice a year, can catch cavities early. Some cavities can be seen by the dentist during an exam, while some can only be seen on X-rays. When a dentist finds simple cavities forming, they can be filled with either metal fillings or composite tooth-colored fillings.

Cavities that have formed to a larger degree may require a crown to restore the tooth. Cavities that are severe can reach the root of the tooth, and may require a root canal to save the tooth.

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