As most of us know, the foods we eat on a daily basis have a direct impact on our mental and physical wellbeing. However, many people don’t understand how the food they eat can impact their teeth. This works both ways, as eating too much and eating too little can each have negative impacts on our oral health. Here to give you some more insight is a list on how dieting affects your teeth.
The Impact of Low-Carbohydrate Diets
As mentioned above, there is an undeniable correlation between nutritional and oral health. This means that each different type of food we eat in order to satisfy various nutritional requirements also has an impact on our oral health. For this reason, diets that are low in carbohydrates are an effective means of preventing halitosis, periodontal disease, and demineralization. However, it should be noted that there are some drawbacks to an exclusively low-carb diet (such as dietary ketosis), so while it is definitely important to minimize the amount of carbohydrates we intake, restricting them too much can prove to be quite detrimental.
The Choice is Yours
The best way to monitor your diet vis-a-vis what is optimal for your oral health is to take it slow and carefully consider the consequences of eating or drinking something. Additionally, this will help ensure that you are maintaining a varied diet that will be just as good for your nutritional health as it is for your oral health. Some good tips are to drink a lot of water, eat food from each food group, try to cut back on snacks, maintain a routine hygiene schedule that includes brushing, flossing, rinsing with mouthwash, and using a tongue scraper.
Diet Pills and Dry Mouth
Diet pills decrease the amount of saliva in our mouths, which can lead to dry mouth and even worse problems. This is because our saliva is our last defense against oral decay. Consequently, a habitual lack of saliva can result in gum disease and tooth decay.
The Impact of Low-Calorie Diets
While reducing the total amount of calories we consume is an effective means of losing weight, too much can harm your body. This is because your body receives vital nutrients and vitamins as the result of caloric intake. Entirely omitting this from your diet can result in softened enamel and raise your chances of contracting gum disease.
