5 Best Foods that Help to Protect Your Teeth

Protecting your teeth is not just about brushing, flossing and going for your six-month check-ups.  In order to properly protect your teeth, you need to choose the right foods and limit the amount of sugary foods and drinks you eat and drink. The foods we consume can either function to decay/destroy our teeth or they can help to protect them from harmful bacteria and plaque.  By choosing the right foods you can naturally fight bacteria, strengthen enamel, remove plaque, and freshen breathe.  Here are 5 foods that go a long way to protect your teeth so that you can have a bright white smile for years to come.  

1. Water - When it comes to what you put in your mouth, water is the best consumable product for periodontal health.  Drinking water helps remove loose particles present in your mouth, preventing them from aiding the progress of tooth decay.  Water consumption also helps keep your mouth hydrated, slowing the process of bacteria and plaque.  Bacteria thrive in a dry mouth. 


2. Vitamin C – Vitamin C is another consumable that aids in the fight against tooth decay.  Healthy gums require a regular dose of vitamin C.  Fruits like kiwi, oranges, grapefruits, etc. are loaded with this mouth friendly vitamins.


3. Raw Celery, Onions, Mint Leaves - Eating celery can actually benefit your teeth and gums.  Celery’s rough texture helps clear food on and between your teeth.  Not only that, but chewing celery encourages saliva production which helps neutralize cavity causing bacteria in your mouth, indirectly which prevents the build up of plaque and helps to strengthen our gums. Onions have natural antibacterial sulfur compound that helps to fight the sulfuric acid released from cavity causing bacteria. Eating peeled raw onions is the best way to release the natural antibacterial into your mouth. Mint leaves after eating a meal will help to keep your breath smelling fresh.  Mint leaves contain monoterpenes, monoterpenes is a substance that travels to your lungs where it releases a sweet fresh smell.  Your lungs functions to push the smell out of your mouth creating fresh minty breathe. 

4. Cheese – Cheese helps protect your teeth in a variety of ways.  First, cheese helps to neutralize the acids in your mouth, balancing out the pH levels making your mouth less acidic. Moreover cheese provides calcium and phosphate, a key building block in tooth enamel. Cheese also encourages saliva production.


5.Sesame Seeds - Seeds dense material helps to prevent the build up of plaque and breaks up caked in plaque.  Sesame seeds are a good source of calcium, which helps to rebuild tooth enamel.  Primitive humans ate lots of seeds, which helped to protect their teeth from cavities before the invention of toothbrushes.

Other than these food there are wasabi, green tea, apples, sprouts of beans, glass of milk, yogurt or fresh fruits are also good for healthy teeth and gums.