Dietary Advice

How Can Diet Affect Dental Health?

Your diet has a great deal of impact on your oral health. Eating too many sweet and sticky foods will increase your risk of tooth decay and gum disease. These foods help fuel bacteria in your mouth, enabling them to thrive. As their numbers increase, the bacteria produce acids that attack your tooth enamel, weakening it and increasing the risk of tooth decay.

These bacteria also produce toxins that irritate your gums, causing infection and inflammation, increasing your risk of gum disease, a condition that has been linked to many serious health conditions including heart disease and diabetes. By following a healthy diet, your body will be able to supply the nutrients necessary to help repair your gums and to fight disease.

What Type of Dietary Changes Can Improve Dental Health?

Even making small changes to your diet could help significantly improve your dental health. For example, if you currently have a lot of fizzy drinks (including diet drinks) then choosing water instead will help reduce your risk of tooth decay. For those who like to drink fruit juice, it would be better to eat the whole fruit as fruit juice can be very high in sugars and most are naturally acidic.

If you do want to eat or drink something sugary or sticky, try to include it as part of your main meal and finish by rinsing your mouth with plain water. Wait around half an hour before brushing your teeth as this enables the mouth to become less acidic, minimising damage to teeth.

Our friendly dental team can always offer more personalised dietary advice to help you maintain good dental health and hopefully protect your general health. For more information, please call us on (03) 9887 4539 in Wantirna South, on (03) 9886 7551 in Glen Waverley and on (03) 8794 9777 in Narre Warren.

Our practices are located at 3 Rezes St, Wantirna South VIC 3152, 228 Springvale Rd, Glen Waverley VIC 3150 and 5/2-8 Victor Cres, Narre Warren VIC 3805.