At Burlingame Dental Arts, part of how we aspire to become the best dentist in SW Portland is by helping our patients protect their oral health at home. While brushing and flossing rank as two of the most effective habits you can have when it comes to preventing tooth decay and cavities, diet also plays an enormously important role in helping to ensure you enjoy a brilliantly bright and healthy smile for a lifetime.
With that in mind, here are a few surprising foods that can help protect your oral health.
Eggs
Whether fried, over-easy, or poached, eggs are rich in vitamin D and actively help to prevent tooth decay. Vitamin D helps to prevent tooth decay because it promotes stronger teeth. The stronger the structure of your teeth, the more resilient they are to the effects of tooth decay and cavities. As an added bonus for those breakfast lovers out there, eggs are also great at helping to improve eyesight as well.
Sweet Potatoes
A staple of holiday meals, sweet potatoes are loaded with vitamin A and offer a great way to help protect your teeth from all of those tempting holiday treats. Vitamin A plays an important role in the mouth’s production of saliva, which keeps the pH level of your mouth at neutral, which helps prevent decay. Surprisingly, sweet potatoes contain even higher levels of potassium than bananas.
Salami
While cured meat may be one of the last foods you thought would pop up on a list of what’s food for your oral health, recently an Australian dentist went on the record to claim that vitamin K2 – certainly not one you hear about every day – is a necessity for improving oral health. In case you’re wondering what foods are full of this mysterious vitamin, well you guessed it – cured meats, like salami, and soft cheeses. Adding a little brie makes a great way to spice up your eggs, which just happen to be another food high in vitamin K2.
Yogurt
Plain yogurt contains a lot to be excited about, including immune system boosting probiotics, vitamin D and calcium. What you might not know, however, is that yogurt also possess both gut-healthy and mouth-healthy properties. Since our teeth are largely made up of calcium, foods that contain calcium are great for strengthening our tooth enamel. To further increase the amount of calcium ypu intake without overloading on dairy, foods that contain vitamin D, magnesium, and phosphorus can help as well.
Strawberries
Strawberries are not only in the running for tastiest fruit, they’re also loaded with vitamin C, which does more for the body than help you fight off a cold. Vitamin C also helps the body heal wounds more quickly, which can be handy if you suffer from gingivitis, an early form of gum disease.
Butter
Finally, a list of healthy foods that actually contains butter. A true holiday miracle courtesy of the best dentist in SW Portland. Well it actually turns out that butter is loaded with B12, a periodontal disease-fighting vitamin which is helpful in healing oral wounds like canker sores and promoting better gum health. A vitamin B deficiency may lead to the progression of mild gum disease like gingivitis, or advanced gum disease such as periodontitis that commonly leads to tooth loss. Just in case your monitoring your cholesterol or trying to cut back on your butter addiction, you can also find B12 in cheese, rice, and soy.
Avocados
As if you needed another reason to love avocados, their high potassium levels help to lower your risk of tooth decay. Potassium is a mineral that works to strengthen and prevent bones from breaking down. A lack of potassium can actually be the cause of tooth decay in some people, so make sure to break out the guacamole whenever company comes over.
