Nutrition & Hydration in Dentistry

Sugar is bad for your teeth. The issue really is the frequency of eating sugar and the duration of its presence in your mouth. It is probably better for your teeth if you ate a lot of sugar over a relatively short period of time, and then cleaned your teeth, than if you just kept a few pieces of sugar candy in your mouth all day long.

It is not usual to see patients who have been relatively cavity free for many years suddenly present with new cavities. An increase in sugar intake is almost always the cause.

Fruit and fruit juice contain citric acid which, given the name, is highly acidic. Fruit juice may also contain sugar additives. Though fruit and fruit juice are excellent nutritionally they can also be a significant cause of cavities. Again, the issue is frequency of contact with the citric acid and the duration of its presence in your mouth.

Drink all the juice and eat all the fruit you want but do so in a finite amount of time and then ideally, clean your teeth.

Several glands in the mouth secrete saliva. They respond to many stimuli including acidity and dryness. Saliva helps to cleanse teeth, begins digestion of food and acts as a lubricant to the food we swallow.

Drinking water is a convenient way to clean your teeth when you don' t have access to a toothbrush, floss and/or mouthwash. It is also an extremely important part of daily nutrition. An average adult should drink about 50 ounces of water, or its equivalent, per day. You should drink even more water if you also consume significant amounts of caffeine or alcohol because these drinks cause dehydration. Water is the only liquid that should be kept bedside for those who get thirsty at night.