Everybody knows that eating sugar can cause cavities. However, there are other (and less obvious) ways your diet can negatively impact the health of your teeth.
- Unhealthy diet and immune system – If you don’t eat nutritious meals, your immune system starts to get weaker. Once your immune system gets weaker, it becomes less capable of fighting infections of the gum, leading to infected gums and cavities.
- Not drinking enough – The bacteria that cause cavities and gum infections thrive when the mouth is dry. By drinking enough, not only will you feel better overall, but also make the mouth a less hospitable environment for cavity causing bacteria, by increasing moisture and making the acidity in the mouth more neutral.
- Food that likes to hang around – Sticky, sugary foods are the worst culprit when it comes to increasing susceptibility to cavity formation, but other food that gets stuck in your teeth can also promote growth of unwanted bacteria. Be sure to floss to make sure that pieces of food are not stuck in between your teeth.
- Eating too much – While eating too much is bad for overall health; it can also be bad for oral health specifically. Each time you put food in your mouth, especially food rich in carbohydrates, you create an environment that promotes the growth of cavity forming bacteria.