Six Ways to Damage Your Teeth: Eating Too Much Fruit Can Also Harm Your Teeth
Introduction: Believe many people have experienced cavities or toothache, and the condition of your teeth is closely related to your appetite. If your teeth hurt, how can you possibly have the mood to eat? Therefore, in our daily lives, we need to take good care of them.
Enamel, also known as tooth enamel, is a hard, white, and translucent tissue located on the surface of the tooth crown. It protects the underlying dentin and pulp tissue inside the tooth. Therefore, a bright and intact enamel is a guarantee of healthy teeth. When we consume foods with high acid content for a long time, the enamel on the surface of our teeth can decalcify. Incorrect daily brushing, such as using too much force or improper technique, can also damage it.
1. Do you eat a lot of fruit?
We are not trying to give fruit a bad name, but fruits like plums, pomegranates, grapes, lemons, and limes, although highly nutritious, contain high concentrations of citric, malic, or tartaric acid. These acidic substances can erode tooth enamel.
2. Do you eat a lot of pickles, yogurt, or other fermented foods?
Like fruit, yogurt and pickles are relatively acidic, with yogurt containing lactic acid. The microscopic structure of tooth enamel can prevent damage from the stress of constant chewing and also provides a self-healing ability, preventing small cracks from destroying the entire tooth. If you often eat these foods, these highly acidic foods can hinder the mouth's natural function of protecting itself from erosion.
3. Do you often drink soda, fruit juice, or sports drinks?
With the emergence of a wide variety of beverages, dentists have found that more and more people are experiencing enamel erosion. Cola-type sodas contain phosphoric acid, while non-cola beverages, such as mixed lemon or orange-flavored champagne cocktails, contain citric acid. Although the pH of these acids is relatively high (meaning they are weak acids), the citric acid in non-cola drinks has been proven to be actually harmful to tooth enamel.
4. When you feel thirsty, do you like to drink ice-cold soda?
When you're thirsty, grabbing a refreshing bottle of ice-cold soda sounds like a good idea, right? But when you are extremely thirsty, your mouth may be very dry, and the protective power of your saliva is reduced. Without saliva to neutralize the acid, drinking soda is one of the worst things you can do for your teeth. When you're thirsty, please drink water!
5. Are you a wine connoisseur?
Since wine comes from grapes, and grapes are acidic, wine naturally contains acids that can wear down tooth enamel. Choosing less acidic wines, such as Italian red wine, seems to cause less erosion than French red or white wine. Unless you are a professional wine taster, please do not let wine stay in your mouth for too long. Imagine the wine rushing past your teeth; you are essentially "bathing" them in acid.
6. Do you like to have a drink before bed?
If you plan to drink alcohol, soda, juice, or sports drinks, finish them a few hours before bedtime. Drinking acidic drinks before bed means your teeth will be in contact with corrosive acid for several hours. Remember to brush your teeth before bed, but wait at least an hour after drinking. Brushing immediately after consuming acidic drinks or foods is not recommended, as the enamel is still in a weakened state after being eroded by acid, and brushing immediately can make it more susceptible to mechanical wear and tear. Do not rinse your mouth with water after your nighttime routine, as the fluoride in the toothpaste will provide protection for your teeth all night long.
Tips:
1. To protect enamel, you can drink black tea and green tea. Both contain tea polyphenols, an antioxidant plant compound that prevents plaque from adhering to teeth, thereby reducing the risk of oral and dental diseases. Research has found that many teas also contain fluoride, which comes from the tea leaves and the water in which they are steeped, and can protect tooth enamel from erosion.
2. Get enough vitamin C. Vitamin C is the "glue" for body cells, essential for skin health, and of course, it also plays a very important role in gum tissue. People who consume less than 60 mg of vitamin C per day have a 25% higher risk of developing gum disease compared to those who consume 180 mg.