Do you have a faintest idea as to how many bacteria are in your mouth looking for food for 24 hours? Well, the answer confirmed by RDH Magazine is 20 billion microbes on the surface of your teeth. You would have often thought about that even though you take such good care of your teeth, there are times when you feel sensitivity or experience cavity and other dental problems. This is because the bacteria conspires against our dental health and undermine it when we don’t even have a clue. Understanding the acts of bacteria on food is the second step towards building a strong oral health after maintaining it with cleanliness.
What happens instantly when we eat food: The minute you put food in your mouth for chewing or physical digestion, these microbes start multiplying themselves and rush to the food for consuming it. Fermentable food like simple sugars, fatty acids and amino acids are instantly eaten by them for fermentation (respiration among most micro-organisms). Now, when you eat food there obviously will be plaque which would stick to teeth, this plaque will also serve as food for bacteria. In conclusion, not only bacteria steal our food and mineral for our teeth but they also produce harmful acids as a resultant of fermentation which can lead to catastrophic events.
Long-term effects of food on our teeth: Now, longer term effects are critical but on a brighter side we can control these negative effects more easily. For instance, the bacteria in our mouth produce concentrated acids which can be absorbed by our first layer of teeth enamel, now these acids dissolve the minerals (e.g. Calcium), vitamins (e.g. Vitamin D) and other nutrients which are contained within our teeth. On brighter side which is mentioned above we can control this by eating food which can replace the nutrients which are being stolen by bacteria. If the food stolen is more than the food being replaced, that is when the cavity starts.
When to eat and what to eat: Now the after studying the effects, the question remains that how to prevent these outcomes. Now, when to eat is just as important as what to eat, for example, having a biscuit between the meals as a separate snack is more dangerous than to have it with dinner or any other time of proper meal. This is because with every bite microbes are activated so it is better to eat more food at one scheduled time rather than to eat less but eat them all day long! To check for more information regarding food effects on tooth, consider reading this post here.
Coming on to what to eat, you can devise your own personal diet plan by a pediatrician or you can follow these instructions which are approved by the Department of Health and Human Services and Healthy eating Pyramid on howtogetridoftoothache.com:
- Whole grains should be regularly consumed, instead of refined and processed grains. Whole grains are included in brown rice, oat meal or whole wheat bread.
- Consume healthy green vegetables, and use only plant oils for healthy fats.
- Eat fruits in diversity.
- For healthy fats eat plant oils e.g. canola, olive or soy and those from fatty fish such as salmon.
- Suitable amount of nuts and beans for vitamin, minerals and proteins.
- Fish, poultry and eggs – also in suitable amount to provide proteins
- Moderation is the key for consuming alcohol and red meat e.g. beef or pork which contain high levels of unhealthy fats
- Use less salt in food.
