Most of us are self conscious about one or more parts of our body. But there is no doubt that our teeth have a huge effect on how confident we feel and how happy we are to smile in front of others.
Taking good care of our teeth isn’t just about brushing them twice a day though. Every snack and meal we eat and every drink that passes our lips has the ability to do damage to our teeth. So it makes sense that if we watch what we eat and increase the number of teeth friendly foods we take in, our teeth will look and feel better for it.
Calcium is well known for helping to keep teeth strong. And the good news is that there are plenty of foods which have calcium in them. Milk is of course one of the primary sources, but you can also get plenty of it from other dairy products such as yogurt.
While calcium is important for your teeth there are many other things you should be adding into your daily diet as well. Good things to start eating more of for more reasons than one include fresh fruit. Think of how you eat and chew an apple for example. They say that eating one of these a day keeps the doctor away, but it can keep cavities away too.
The act of chewing anything like this releases more saliva into your mouth. This helps in cleaning your teeth and getting rid of excess acid inside your mouth. Acid erodes your tooth enamel so the less you have, the better your teeth will look. Avoid anything with high acid levels or at least keep it to a safe minimum.
Other foods that are good for your teeth and require plenty of chewing include celery and onions. Raw onions are ideal for this as they are firmer and require more chewing. Other good foods include bananas. These are packed with magnesium and this is one of the main things you need to make sure you can still form tooth enamel.
It would be easy to suppose all fruits are good for your teeth but this isn’t the case. Citrus fruits are the biggest offenders, because of all the acid in them. So by all means eat oranges but have something else afterwards or chew some gum to increase your saliva and push through all that acid before it damages your teeth.
Of course regular checks at your dentist are essential to make sure any potential problems are cleared up before they have a chance to get worse. There are lots of dental plans around too so you can take every step necessary to protect your teeth in both the short and long term.