Nutrition and Oral Health

Adam Reeve, a professional personal trainer and fitness instructor for over 10 years as well as a life coach, wellness writer, and low carb diets, enthusiast, shared with Healthy Lombard that on the one hand, your diet decides your oral health, and on the other hand, your oral health is responsible for the value provided by your diet. Therefore, it is very important to maintain both a good diet and good oral health to ensure overall fitness.

Oral health is highly influenced by diet and nutrition. By nutrition, we refer to the macro- and micronutrients consumed by our bodies, whereas by diet, we mean specific foods consumed. Both nutrition and diet affect oral health. Poor oral health can lead to diseases like caries, dental erosion, periodontal disease, and so on. Sometimes, there can also be other reasons that lead to poor oral health, like the age of the person, pH constituent of the body, and so on. Even babies need proper care for strong oral health; therefore, we suggest you invest in the proper baby toothpaste to keep your baby’s teeth healthy. To know more about how oral health and nutrition are interlinked, keep reading the article.

Nutrition and Oral Health Connections

Dental Caries 

Dental caries is a sugar-driven disease, which damages the tooth cavity and causes tiny holes in it. Dental caries depends on the carbohydrate and vitamin D content of the diet. Let’s have a closer look at how each of the diet factors determines the chances of dental caries.

• Carbohydrate: Dental caries and carbohydrates have a very simple relationship to understand. Dietary carbohydrates initiate the growth of bacteria that, in turn, increase the production of acid by-product. This acid by-product causes demineralization of the dental hard tissues. Consuming excess carbohydrates not only causes demineralization of the hard tissues but also initiates a fall of pH in tooth biofilm. The oral health does not just depend on the carbohydrate, but also on the type of carbohydrate intake. Between the two types of carbohydrate - sugar, and starch, sugar is said to have more impact in causing caries. Therefore, do keep a check on your carbohydrate consumption for good oral health care.
• Vitamin D: Vitamin D is known to have positive effects on the metabolism of calcium and phosphate. Higher consumption of vitamin D helps to lower the risk of dental caries by boosting your oral health. Vitamin D is more effective in kids and infants for preventing dental caries.

Periodontal Disease

Periodontal disease affects oral health by causing inflammation of the periodontal tissues. This inflammation results in alveolar bone loss and periodontal pocketing. It is caused majorly by certain microorganisms in the dental plaque and by an unwanted host response to this bacterial growth causing destruction of the apparatus supporting the tooth.

The connection of periodontal disease with nutrition is based on the intake of lipids and other micronutrients. However, the curing effect of these lipids and micronutrients is still under research for more detailed information. 

Dental Erosion

Dental erosion is the progressive destruction of the hard tissue of a tooth due to a chemical process that involves acid dissolution. Nevertheless, surprisingly, this acid dissolution has nothing to do with bacteria.  

Stomach acid is very harmful to your oral health. It also causes dental erosion, therefore, it is highly suggested that you keep away from acidic foods because oral health is important. Also, keep away from foods like wine and fruit juices to prevent dental corrosion.

Calcium Intake

Calcium content in the diet is very crucial for strong oral health. The daily-recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of calcium for children of 1 to 3 years old is around 700 mg, and for children of 4-8 years old, it is 1000 mg. For an adult, the RDA is 1200 mg. Calcium-rich foods that you must add in your diet are milk, cheese, soya beans, fish, and so on.

Conclusion

Now that you know what oral health problems are and how they are linked with your diet make sure that you take in the nutrients that do well to your oral health. Also, invest in a decent oral health toolkit that will help you have white and strong teeth until old age. So what steps are you planning to take in order to improve your oral health? Do let us know!