Good Food For Dental Health

Plaque is the main cause of tooth decay, acid produced by plaque can attack the teeth for 20 minutes or more after you finish eating. Repeated attacks can break down the hard enamel on the tooth surface, which causes tooth decay. Plaque also produces toxins that attack the gums and bone supporting the teeth.

Avoid foods that combine sugar, sour and sticky, but it was too quick to brush your teeth after eating can actually cause additional damage to the teeth. Besides damage to the teeth can occur from within, because the less the need for vitamins and minerals for healthy teeth.

Here are some foods that are good for dental health:

1. Pears

Fresh fruit is a good choice because, like vegetables, natural fiber which stimulates saliva production. Pears, a fruit that has a greater acid neutralizing effect on the tooth surface than other types of fresh fruit, like bananas, apples, oranges and pineapple.

2. Water

Water is needed by our body, including teeth and oral cavity. Water is the main component of saliva. Water can also clean up leftover food and acid in the mouth by gargling.

3. Cheese

Cheese, low-sugar and high acid and calcium, so a good choice. But it also contains casein, a protein found in milk which is very useful to strengthen the tooth surface. In fact, doctors often prescribe tooth remineralization pasta, made from casein, for patients who are particularly vulnerable to cavities.

4. Xylitol

Chewing gum containing the sweetener called xylitol (a type of sugar that is extracted from several species of plants) can prevent the formation of cavities in a way against cavities forming bacterium called Streptococcus mutans. Gum itself also helps maintain a healthy mouth by stimulating saliva production and the "brush" the surface of the teeth of plaque deposits.

5. Tea

Green tea and black tea contains compounds called polyphenols that can interact with the plaque-forming bacteria. These compounds can kill, suppress the growth of bacteria, or prevents them from producing acid-forming cavities. In addition to tea and coffee, chocolate also have anti-Streptococcus mutans that cause cavities. But of course not the chocolate bars that contain sugar.

6. Nuts

Nuts contain vitamins and minerals that can maintain dental health. Among them peanuts (calcium and vitamin D), almonds (rich in calcium), cashew (stimulates the production of saliva and clean teeth), walnuts (fiber, folic acid, iron, thiamine, magnesium, niacin, vitamin E, vitamin B6, potassium, and zinc).

7. Sesame oil

Sesame seeds can reduce plaque and helps remineralize tooth enamel. A method of rinsing with sesame oil, which is popular in Ayurvedic medicine. Gargling with sesame oil is as effective as the use of chlorhexidine mouthwash in reducing plaque.