A Peek Inside the Mouth
[8-minute read. Cover image credit goes to The Girl with the Red Hat via Unsplash.com.]
My six month dentist appointment was this week, so I thought Oral Health would be a relevant topic for this month’s Quick Bites post. To begin, “oral health” is basically just “the health of your mouth.” I used to think of the mouth as a completely separate organ, but as my dentist, Dr. Hardy reminded me, it’s the first organ in the digestive system (mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, anus). So the mouth is where it all starts!
Beyond oral health, you may have read the term “periodontium,” which includes the teeth, the gums, and the supporting bone. The word periodontium comes from the Greek “peri” - meaning around and “odont” meaning tooth.
I could geek out about oral health for days, but since this nutrition blog features the name “quick” in the title, I figure I should keep it brief! So this post will focus on cavities and nutrition.
Did you know there’s another word for cavities? It wasn’t until taking courses in nutrition that I found out the other term for cavities is “dental caries.” Dental caries form when acid dissolves the enamel that covers the tooth. If not repaired, the decay will spread and could lead to inflammation, abscess or tooth loss.
How Do We Prevent Dental Caries?
Well, like the rest of our body, our mouth requires a healthy diet, but it also requires eating at appropriate times and frequencies.
The Timing of Sugar
We all know that sugary drinks and foods can lead to cavities, but it’s more nuanced than that. Just as important as WHAT goes in your mouth is HOW LONG IT STAYS in your mouth! If a food is sticky, it will stay on your teeth longer. Caramels, taffy, even raisins and other dried fruits that stay on your teeth can be more of an issue than a sugary drink that is quickly cleared and rinsed from the mouth. I’m not saying drink your sugar, I’m just saying be aware of the stick-factor of your food and “brush your teeth after you eat a sugary, sticky sweet!”
The Frequency of Sugar
In addition to how long a food is in your mouth you also have to consider how OFTEN a food is in your mouth! Bacteria continue to produce acid for 20 to 30 minutes after you’ve finished eating and drinking, so the more often you eat, the longer the bacteria have time to impact your teeth. This passage from a recent article on the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says it best:
“What you eat and how often you eat can affect your teeth. Plaque is a sticky film of bacteria that forms on teeth and, unless removed daily, this plaque builds up. Plaque bacteria use sugar from things you eat and drink to make acid that attacks tooth enamel. This “acid attack” can last up to 20 minutes even after you’ve finished eating or drinking. This is why snacking all day or sipping a sugary drink for a long period of time can lead to tooth decay.” (1)
To alleviate this effect of frequency, you could either eat sugar less often during the day or you could pair your sugary foods with other foods.
“Nonsugary foods can help remove sugar from tooth surfaces; hence, it is better to eat sugar with meals than between meals. Foods such as milk and cheese may be particularly helpful in protecting against dental caries by neutralizing acids, stimulating salivary flow, inhibiting bacterial activity, and promoting remineralization of damaged enamel.” (2)
Image by Sneha Cecil via Unsplash
Because of the nutritional difference between dairy and non-dairy alternative milks, and the fact that non-dairy “milks” often contain added sugars, I don’t have a lot of alternatives for vegans at this point. However, whole almonds - which contain calcium and promote saliva production - and calcium-enriched tofu may both be useful alternatives to the dairy options provided above.
What to Eat? Fruits & Veggies of Course
From helping prevent diabetes and cardiovascular disease to having a positive effect on blood sugars, your oral health is yet another reason to eat your fruits and veggies. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public health article says it best again:
When it comes to a healthy smile, fruits and vegetables are also good choices since they are high in water and fiber, which balance the sugars they hold and help to clean the teeth. These foods also help stimulate saliva, which helps to wash away acids and food from teeth, both neutralizing acid and protecting teeth from decay. (3)
What to Drink?
Well, it may be repetitive and boring, but water (especially fluoridated*) is the best drink for your mouth. Drinking fluoridated water rinses your teeth and prevents both cavities and dry mouth. Experiencing a dry mouth (lack of saliva) can increase the risk of dental caries as saliva helps to clean your mouth and maintain the proper pH levels.
Say No To Sugary Drinks (I know, I know, that’s harder than it sounds) It’s common knowledge that sugary drinks can cause dental caries, but the pH of the drinks is also a concern. Most sodas, juices, and sports drinks have a low pH, and this higher acidity can erode tooth enamel.
Say Okay, Sometimes, to Carbonated Water
I recall a while back when the internet was abuzz with talk of sparkling/carbonated waters exacerbating enamel erosion. However, while carbonated waters have a sightly higher pH than tap water, the medical community generally regards sparking waters as fine for your oral health. Go ahead and replace a sugary soda with a carbonated water, but don’t replace your fluoridated water with carbonated water.
What about Straws?
Some people promote using straws when drinking sugary drinks as they help the drink bypass the teeth, while others believe straws do nothing but promote wrinkles. I haven’t found industry consensus on this yet.
When it comes to drinks, your best bet is to reduce/limit your intake of sugary, acidic drinks and add fluoridated water into your day wherever you can.
Teeth and Our Genes
While listening to a podcast on Nature vs Nurture on the Weekend University, I found out that before studies were conducted on the oral health of twins, the medical community believed periodontal health was tied exclusively to extrinsic factors and behavior. But the twin studies showed that there is indeed a genetic link to periodontal health. Behavior still matters tho so even with inherited resilient dental genes, if you drank sugary sodas and ate taffy all day, your oral health would suffer. The flip side of that is to understand that your oral health is in fact influenced in part by heredity, so if you’re prone to cavities it’s not 100% your fault.
Two Weird Tips for Teeth & Gums
Before giving you a list of tips for optimal oral health, I want to offer a couple of weird tips.
First, to any menstruating ladies out there: because of fluctuating hormones, your gums may be swollen or prone to bleeding during your menstrual cycle. So, make sure to plan your dental appointments around your cycle otherwise you’ll be doubly bloody.
Second, if any of you knew my best friend Juan, you knew he had teeth so white that you could see them in the moonlight. He claimed that his ‘banana trick” is what kept his bones so pearly. After his morning banana, he’d rub the subtly abrasive inside of the peel against his teeth to “clean” them. Now, he also brushed his teeth for several minutes a day three times a day, so. . . . who knows if it was the banana, the brushing, or a combination, but I can’t eat a banana to this day without fondly remembering his teeth and then scrubbing my teeth with the peel.
Tips for Best Oral Health
Remember, if you are trying to improve your lifestyle by adopting healthier habits, always start with just one new practice and take it slow. Challenge yourself to choose one tip from the list below and attempt to stick it with for 3 or 4 weeks before adding another new practice to your routine.
Limit all-day snacking or all-day consumption of sugary drinks. Instead snack in shorter spurts.
Limit intake of chewy, sticky sugar snacks, or brush right after. This includes dried fruits.
Brush and floss daily. I brush 2 to 3 times a day, and floss on average on a daily or every-other-day basis. The American Dental Association recommends brushing for a minimum of 2 minutes, or 30-seconds per section of your mouth. How long do you normally brush your teeth and how often do you floss?
If you can’t brush or floss, take a swig and rinse of milk or water, or chew a quick stick of sugar-free gum.
Drink that fluoridated tap water!
Limit alcohol drinks and mixers as they can be acidic or sugary, respectively.
Eat fruits, veggies, lean protein, low-fat dairy, and nuts
Go to the dentist at minimum once a year. If you have the luxury, search for a dentist with the same tenacity and care you’d search for a romantic partner. If you don’t feel comfortable with your dentist, or if you don’t trust them, then ultimately you won’t go in for check ups. I am lucky to have found an engaging and tender dentist who not only calms me but also answers all my curious questions. Everyone in his office accommodates my quirks, from providing me with a hand mirror to watch what’s happening in my mouth during cleanings, to putting a note in my file that I ONLY like the mint flavored grit. Anything else - bubblegum, berry, cookie dough, or cotton candy - will be immediately spat out.
What do you most struggle with when it comes to oral health and what was the most surprising thing you learned from this post? Leave your replies in the comments. Thanks so much for reading; your time and attention are appreciated more than you know!
~ Trilety
The fluoridation of community water reminds me of folic acid enrichment. In 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required that folic acid be added to enriched grain products (such as bread, pasta, rice, and cereal) to prevent neural tube defects.
This graphic shows the intersection of oral health and society
References:
(1) https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/oral-health/
(2) Whitney, Eleanor Noss, and Sharon Rady Rolfes. Understanding Nutrition. Cengage, 2016.
(3) https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/oral-health/