Brushing your teeth twice a day using fluoridated toothpaste, flossing daily, and visiting the dentist for two annual checkups every year can help your smile stay in good health. To help you prevent tooth decay and enjoy your smile for many years, we invite you to review these five tips for a healthier smile.
Healthy Diet
Your diet can contribute to tooth decay, which means a healthy diet is very important for your smile. A proper diet includes healthy amounts of foods from all the food groups, such as vegetables and fruit, dairy products, proteins (meat, eggs, and lentils), and starches.
Sugary Drinks and Food
You can prevent tooth decay by limiting the amount of sugar you drink and eat. We encourage you to limit sugary food and drink to mealtimes. Consuming sugary foods or drink with other foods is less harmful to your teeth than consuming that product by itself. Don’t substitute your portions of fruits and vegetables for just a glass of fruit juice because it is also high in sugar.
Smoking
It’s difficult to have gleaming, healthy teeth if you smoke since smoking discolors your teeth, increases your risk of periodontal disease and lung cancer, and causes bad breath and breathing problems. Patients who smoke upwards of 20 cigarettes a day are six times more likely to develop cancer of the mouth than patients who abstain from smoking.
Alcohol
Excessive consumption of alcohol wears down the tooth enamel, the protective layer on the outside of the teeth, increasing your chances of tooth decay. If tooth decay develops, you may need to visit the dentist to receive a dental filling.
A White Smile
To keep your teeth white and beautiful, we encourage you to reduce your intake of substances that cause stains, such as cigarettes, tea, wine, and coffee. If you have developed stains, our dentist can provide a professional teeth whitening treatment, which brightens the color of natural tooth enamel through a non-invasive procedure.
For more tips on keeping teeth healthy in Pineville, Louisiana, contact Cenla Dentistry at 318-640-3200 today.
