Foods to Keep My Mouth Healthy

Find out what foods to add to the menu if you want to maintain optimum oral health.

Who doesn’t want to hear from their dentist at their next dental visit that they are in the optimum of dental health?  That’s what Dr. Zimmerman wishes he could say to all his patients! Besides brushing and flossing regularly did you know that what you eat also impacts the health of your smile? So before you pull out the grocery list, be sure to add these items to it to keep your smile healthy.

Milk

Just as the slogan suggests milk “does a body good,” but it also is great for your smile. Dairy products like milk and egg yolks are a great way to get calcium and vitamin D, and calcium is one the essentials for healthy teeth and bones.

So, why is vitamin D so important? You need a certain amount of vitamin D in your system to properly absorb calcium. So if you want to protect your teeth and jaw health grab milk in any form, from whole to skim. Can’t do dairy? That’s okay, there are other non-milk alternatives that still contain enough calcium.

Cheese and Low-Fat Yogurt

While this certainly isn’t a recommendation to eat cheese all day long, eating this food on occasion is a great way to increase your calcium and phosphorus intake, which can help protect and strengthen tooth enamel to ward away decay. As if this wasn’t reason enough to buy cheese, this food also contains casein, a protein only found in milk products that can also protect enamel.

Meat and Fish

If you aren’t one of those people who loves cheese or yogurt but you’re still looking for a way to preserve healthy tooth enamel, certain meats and fatty fish like salmon are also chock full of phosphorus and other healthy minerals that can give you a clean bill of health the next time you visit your Woodland dentist.

Crisp veggies

Who can forget the importance of vegetables? Crunchy vegetables like carrots and celery are natural toothbrushes, cleaning tooth surfaces and dislodging food from between teeth. These foods also stimulate the production of saliva, which aids in washing away food and other particles and neutralizing acid.

Of course, no oral care regime would be complete without those routine visits every six months. If it’s been awhile since you last saw Dr. Zimmerman then pick-up the phone and give us a call today.  We’re still at the same location we have been at for over 25 years, 127 Court Street, Woodland, CA, 530-661-1155.  We’re here to keep your smile healthy and looking its best!