25 Feb 5 Foods That Can Help To Keep Your Teeth White

Plenty of advice abounds from dentists concerning the damaging effects of certain foods and drinks, especially in the case of younger children whose teeth are more vulnerable to decay. However, there is little information concerning foods that can help to keep your teeth white and healthy. While there are no “magic foods” that are guaranteed to make stained and discoloured teeth look white, by including certain items in your diet, you can contribute towards maintaining a fresh bright smile.

Helping Yourself and Your Dentist

Your dentist and/or oral hygienist will already be putting in a lot of hard work once or twice a year to ensure that oral plaque and dental staining are kept under control. The great news is that through good oral hygiene habits and sensible eating, you can help to keep them looking that way between your regular visits to the dentist’s office. In this article,we will look at five foods that contribute towards keeping your teeth whiter for longer and offer some explanation as to why that is the case.

Strawberries

When you consider how powerful the red juice of strawberries can be as a dye if you are unfortunate enough to get it on your clothes, it may come as something of a surprise to learn that it can help to maintain white teeth! Thanks to the enzyme known as Malic Acid, strawberries can have a whitening effect on tooth enamel. Not only does that make them a natural and healthy dessertchoice, but by squashing theminto a paste that is applied to the teeth for about five minutes, they can act as a natural whitener too.

Crunchy Fruit and Veggies

Not only are crunchy vegetables such as apples, celery, and carrots healthy eating choices, they act in two distinct ways to maintain clean and healthy teeth. They do this firstly, by encouraging production of your body’s natural stain remover; saliva which also freshens your breath and secondly through utilising their crunchy texture as a natural toothbrush.

Pineapples and Oranges

Although pineapples and oranges don’t provide the same “scrubbing” action as the crunchy varieties of fruit, they are what are known as “tarty fruits” and as such, they too stimulate an increase in the production of saliva. While this acts as natural teethcleaning agent, the strong acids in some tarty fruits such as lemons shouldn’t be applied directly onto the teeth as they can damage tooth enamel.

Baking Soda

Since as far back as 2008, baking soda has been identified as a solution to stained teeth and there are already many brands of toothpaste on the market that contain it. While using household baking soda may be beneficial on occasions, regularly using a brand of toothpaste recommended by your dentist is probably your best course of action.

Dairy Products

The five foods on the list are all coincidentally healthy eating choices too. Dairy products have proven to be no exception to this pattern and the lactic acid that is present in them has been identified as an active agent in protecting against tooth decay. A published report in the Journal of Dentistry claims that children who ate yogurt four times a week had fewer instances of decay than those that didn’t.

If you desire a bright white smile and strong healthy teeth you should contact the expert team here at Signal Hill Dental Centre because we have the experience to provide a wide range of cosmetic and practical dental treatments.