When January rolls around, many take a good look at their day-to-day lives to see where there are opportunities for improvement, especially when it comes to what they eat. Before you make any drastic changes, however, it’s important to consider both your oral and overall health. After all, the diet trends listed below can actually damage your smile!
1. Doing Juice Cleanses
Juice cleanses have become extremely popular in the wellness community. Since these drinks consist primarily of fruits and vegetables, you might assume that this is a diet trend that will benefit your smile. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Remember, chewing stimulates saliva production, and saliva production helps prevent harmful acids, sugars, and bacteria from clinging to your teeth.
It’s also worth noting that whole apples, carrots, celery, and other crunchy foods are referred to as “nature’s toothbrush” since they remove debris from the surface of your teeth! So, while you can certainly have a juice every now and again if you enjoy the flavor, don’t commit to anything too drastic.
2. Drinking Lemon Water
There are countless blogs and videos on social media touting the benefits of lemon water, like aiding digestion or preventing breakouts. However, lemons are highly acidic, so they can quickly lead to enamel erosion, cavities, and other serious oral health problems. The best thing to do is dilute the juice in water. It’s also important that you don’t brush your teeth immediately after because they are at a higher risk of decay following eating or drinking something acidic.
3. Eating 6-8 Small Meals
Many people in the fitness and wellness spaces swear by eating 6-8 small meals a day instead of three large ones. There’s just one problem: your teeth are most vulnerable to decay the hour after you eat. So, the more often you eat, the higher the risk of cavities. The good news is that you can help protect your teeth from harm by brushing after each meal. So, consider keeping travel-sized dental care essentials with you, like a toothbrush and toothpaste, so that you can complete your oral hygiene regimen easily throughout the day.
About the Practice
For our top-rated team at Worcester Dental Arts, we have two goals: to help you keep your smile healthy and to be here if anything goes wrong – from a small cavity developing to a tooth falling out. We’re open five days a week, we welcome dental insurance and flexible financing, and we offer multiple services in-office, so maintaining, restoring, and enhancing your smile is easy as well. If you would like to schedule an appointment with us for a routine checkup, emergency dentistry, or anything in between, don’t hesitate to visit our website or call (508) 793-2114.
