Enamel-Friendly Foods for Your Teeth

The enamel of your tooth is extremely hard. It is also your first line of defense against cavities. Wouldn’t it be a shame if your diet weakened the enamel of your teeth throughout your mouth and subsequently caused a spread of cavities and tooth sensitivity? Obviously. So, in order to keep your teeth healthy, it is important to include enamel-friendly foods and avoid enamel-damaging foods as best as you can.

Foods That Damage Enamel

The biggest enemy of tooth enamel is acid. Acid corrodes slowly away at your tooth enamel, damaging it. As the enamel disappears, your teeth become vulnerable to decay and infection. The enamel naturally defends your teeth from the plaque that builds up.

Some foods that are high in acids and can be damaging to your teeth are soda, fruit juice, flavored water, sugary snacks and soft foods like cake, cookies, chips, and crackers, and citrus fruit. These foods aren’t just bad because they are acidic, but also because they are full of sugar and can stick to the crevices of your teeth for a long time. Have you ever had a sugary treat like a donut and noticed small bits of bread in the crevices of your molar teeth? It seems harmless enough, just pick it out or rinse your mouth out with water, right?

Unfortunately, even if the food is just a cracker or chips, if it stays in contact with your teeth for a long time, microscopic bacteria can consume it and use it to grow. As that bacteria grows, the colony produces acid on its own! This corrodes the teeth even further and eventually forms cavities.

Foods That Are Enamel-Friendly

One of the best things you can consume for your teeth is calcium. You can get this in the form of cheese. Cheese is not only high in calcium, but it also helps to balance the pH of your mouth which lowers the acids that are attacking your teeth! You can also find calcium in fortified rice, low-fat yogurt, and milk, among other places like salmon, broccoli, and spinach.

Foods that are rich in vitamin D are also good for your teeth. Many of these foods are the same as the ones mentioned above, which makes things easy for you!