Diet Advice

We all know sugary foods cause dental decay. Our team at Euston Place realise that we can't get by without any sugar so we aim to limit the damage done when you do eat it.

Plaque bacteria convert the sugar in our diet into acid. When you eat sugary food, your teeth are under acid attack for 40 minutes to 1 hour afterwards.

We recommend limiting sugary things to meal times. At meal times you are producing more saliva anyway so the effects of the sugar will be more rapidly counteracted. 

After this time your saliva can repair minor damage. This unfortunately takes lots and lots of time... approximately 6- 8 hours. 

Sugar intake and nutrition have a direct influence on the progression of tooth decay.  We all have plaque, which is a sticky, colourless film of bacteria that constantly forms on the surfaces of our teeth. 

When this bacteria comes in contact with sugar the acidity in our mouths increases because the sugar acts as a food source for the bacteria.

In less than 20 minutes after the bacteria has been in contact with sugar, these acids start attacking and dissolving your tooth enamel to cause mineral loss from the surfaces of your teeth leaving them ripe for cavities.  

The longer this sugar is in contact with our teeth the greater chance of tooth decay.

So you can probably get away with eating sugary things twice or maybe three times per day at most. Any more exposure to sugar will then cause tooth decay at such a rate that your saliva can't cope with the amount of repair work needed and tooth decay will be the result. 

 It is the frequency of sugar intake and not the amount that causes tooth decay. i.e. 1 spoonful of sugar in coffee is almost as bad as two.

Try sugar substitutes (sugar free mints, sugar free fruit drops, artificial sweeteners in tea and coffee)

Fizzy and citric fruit juices have been proven to cause erosion of the enamel of teeth. To prevent damage from the acidity from these drinks avoid drinking large quantities of fizzy drinks. Frequent sips throughout the day will cause more damage. We recommend drinking fizzy and citric drinks ice cold through a straw. A warm drink increased the speed with which the acid attacks your teeth.

Recommendations:      

1.    Try to reduce your sugar intake by limiting desserts:

·         To once or twice per week

·         Try using less sugar in recipes

·        Limit yourself to a single serving size

·         Try fresh fruit as dessert

·        Try using sugar substitutes

·         Share a dessert when eating out!

2.    Snacks:

·         Work to decrease the number of times you snack in a day and be aware of how long that food will stay on your teeth

·         Trying snacking on foods that do not promote tooth decay such as cheese, bananas, plain yogurt,   milk, raw vegetables, bread and nuts.

·        Don’t suck on sweets or lollipops or try sugar free sweets

·         Brush after every snack

3.     Be aware of sugar in drinks:

·         Flavoured coffees and teas tastes so good due to their high sugar content

·         Drink them with meals

·        Use plain flavoured coffee/teas and add you own sweetener or drink them black

4.    Soft drinks:  Soft drinks represent the single largest source of added sweeteners to our diet! They account for one-third of all calories we consume from added sweeteners, which adds up to more than 23 pounds of sugar from soft drinks yearly. Teens drink twice as much pop as milk. An average 330ml can of pop has 9-12 tsps of sugar. The average 12-19 year old boy consumes 868 cans of pop/year. Teens get 15 of their 34 teaspoons of sugar a day coming from pop. The average person consumes 47.4 gallons of pop/year!  This habit promotes tooth decay because it bathes our teeth with sugar water for long periods of time. Try these ideas:

·        Switch to sugar free pop

·         Drink water

·        Drink 100% juice

·         Try drinking pop with a meal instead of between meals

Foods high in sugar eaten as part of a meal cause less harm because more saliva is released during a meal, which helps wash foods from the mouth and helps lessen the effects of acids.

Read food labels.  A food is likely to be high in sugar if the word sugar or its other names appear first or second in the ingredient list or if several types of sugars are listed.   Instead choice those foods that are lower in sugar content                     

Use mouth rinses with fluoride to increase tooth resistance to decay; they are now recognised as effective for all ages!

Sealants on children’s and adult’s cavity free teeth

Chew sugarless gum or fibrous fruits and vegetables to promote saliva flow which helps to clean your teeth

Drink water or milk at meals to help wash sugar off the teeth and neutralise the effects of sugar

Avoid foods high in sugar like sweets, non-diet pop, jam, jelly, syrup or use sugar free

Get most of your carbohydrate (sugar) from nature starchy foods instead of highly processed foods

Visit your dentist every 6 months for a professional cleaning and exam

Eat a balanced diet with a variety of whole grains, fruit, vegetable, milk and meats.

Look for low sugar breakfast cereal with no more than 8 grams of sugar/serving

Go easy on adding sugar to food

Brush twice a day with a toothpaste containing fluoride to help strengthen tooth structure to resist decay.

Our hygienists will be able to help you with good advice on diet and tooth brushing.