A healthy, beautiful smile, naturally!

The recent bout of good weather, sunshine and the coming May 5th holiday is sure to bring a smile to many people’s faces. But smiling requires beautiful shiny teeth. In order to have such teeth, we do not need to spend a lot of money on dentists and products, provided that our teeth are healthy. It is enough to just follow a few healthy guidelines which will benefit not just your teeth, but your entire system. You can read about some practical health boosters below!  

Neutralizing acids

One of the main causes of tooth decay is the acidic by products of the oral bacteria. This is a natural consequence, but if you do not do anything about it, you can encounter some serious problems. The acid is bad for your tooth enamel, which then loses its ability to resist bacteria, and starts to decay. This can be managed by chewing gum. You may remember that gum is always sold with the slogan that it “regulates the mouths pH levels”. This is in fact true, and if you chew gum between meals, it neutralizes the acidic by products in the mouth. Just make sure that you are chewing sugar free gum! Most dairy products, including cheese and yoghurt also neutralize the pH levels in your mouth, and these are also good to have, but you should rinse a few minutes after ingesting dairy.

Proper hydration

What you hydrate with is very important. Drink water, and lay off of sugary soft drinks. Water is absolutely necessary for our survival, and hydrates you inside and out. It is also very good for the oral cavity to remain hydrated. It does not have any added ingredients, like sugar, acidic compounds, and works as a natural cleaning agent. You can rinse off the plaque and food detritus that gets stuck to your teeth, and the bacteria that live in it. This does not mean that you don’t have to brush, you still need to brush twice a day, but the effectiveness of other oral hygiene techniques, like brushing are much higher when the mouth is properly hydrated. Drink a glass of water after every meal.

Useful snacks

You don’t have to forego good things just because you want to protect your teeth. Some foods will do you a world of good. Crunchy, hard foods have the ability to remove plaque form our teeth, as they scrape the tooth surfaces, and work as a natural toothbrush. Celery greens, carrots, pears or apples work in this way. You can eat these plants anywhere and at any time; at work, in school, on the bus or anywhere else really. Besides cleaning our teeth, they also contain tons of vitamins. Carrots have beta carotene, A vitamins, celery has B1 and B2 vitamins, and apples contain A, B and C vitamins. Fruits and sweet vegetables can also serve as dessert, and are a healthy alternative to sweets and cakes.

Vitamin bomb

Our teeth are practically made out of bone material. If you want to preserve them, you need to eat lots of vitamins and minerals. The most important ones for preserving teeth are calcium and D vitamins, as these help remineralize teeth and protect against tooth decay. You can find these minerals naturally in all sorts of foods, but it is highly likely that you do not get enough of either of them. D vitamins are contained in cod liver oil, in fish, in fungus, egg yolks, milk, butter and liver. Calcium can be found in poppy seeds, squash seeds, cheese, parsley and peanuts or almonds. Most of these foods are not only healthy, but taste good too! All you have to do is eat plenty of these, continue to brush and go to your check ups, and you should have no reason to fear smiling!