This time of year, there is a huge emphasis on healthy eating. Take a trip to any grocery store, and you will see shelves of low fat, high protein products, designed to help those with a New Year’s resolution to lose weight. However, while we certainly applaud healthy weight loss goals, this year make your dental health one of your top priorities. Just as certain foods can harm or benefit your overall physical heath, others can boost or damage your smile. With just a few changes, you can improve your oral wellness in 2015.

Foods to Add Into Your Diet

You may be surprised to learn which foods can significantly aid your dental health. Fortunately, many of these foods will also boost your physical wellbeing and help with your New Year’s weight loss goals. To protect your smile in the coming year, try to consume more of the following foods and drinks:

• Crunchy fruits and vegetables: Fiber-rich produce requires a lot of chewing. This will stimulate saliva, helping to clean harmful bacteria from your mouth. Plus, fruits and veggies contain plenty of additional nutrients to boost your immune system.
• Cheese: Although cheese may not be the dieter’s best friend, it can have tremendous benefits for your smile. Cheese helps to neutralize acid, protecting your teeth from enamel erosion.
• Milk and yogurt: Of course, too much cheese is not healthy. Fortunately, other dairy products offer similar benefits, although the neutralizing effect does not last as long. However, milk and yogurt also contain higher levels of calcium, which will strengthen your teeth.
• Cranberries: Although cranberries are typically associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas, try to work them into your diet the rest of the year. The berries contain polyphenols, which can slow the growth of bacteria.

Enhance Your Dental Health with a Few Changes

Of course adding things into your diet will not do you much good if you continue to eat a lot of unwholesome foods. Reducing sugar consumption is one of the most important things you can do to protect your dental health. Oral bacteria thrive on sugar. Therefore, sodas, hard candies, and regular gum can seriously damage your teeth if you consume them on a regular basis. Additionally, if you want to maintain the color of your smile, you should cut out dark colored foods and drinks. Coffee, black tea, and red wine are among the worst offenders. If you do choose to consume these things, be sure to drink plenty of water at the same time, and brush your teeth about a half hour after you are finished.

About Your Conroe General Dentist:

The Dental Centre of Conroe, John M Richards DDS delivers distinctive cosmetic, restorative, and implant dentistry for residents of Conroe, Houston, The Woodlands, Willis, Huntsville, and the neighboring communities. For more information about our services, or to schedule an appointment, contact us by calling (936) 441-4600.