It’s common to start a Google search when you’re worried about healthy gums and gingivitis. You can come across many titles with 10 foods to avoid, 15 foods to avoid. But we’re going to take a slightly different approach, offering you some advice on how best to keep your gums healthy and why closely controlling your diet may best be part of the solution.
The problem with simply listing foods to avoid is that there are so many more of them.
Obvious Items
Foods or beverages high in sugar; you already knew that. Eliminating sugar completely from your diet is neither possible nor desirable. But limiting sugar intake, and especially refined sugars, is beneficial for much more than just dental hygiene.
Xylitol is often recommended as an alternative to these sugars, for example, chewing gum sweetened with xylitol helps neutralize plaque acidity and therefore has some beneficial effects.
Sugars are, of course, found in desserts and energy drinks, but are problematic in common snacks like dried fruits. So does any sugar added to tea and coffee.
The sugar that stays in your mouth and potentially covers your teeth is worse than the ones you swallow quickly. Therefore, avoid lollipops and sweets as much as possible.
Acidic foods; They can erode your tooth enamel and cause cavities, as well as create an environment for harmful bacteria to grow.
However, acid is not only found in obvious culprits like pickles and alcohol, but healthy foods like tomatoes or citrus fruits are high in acidity.
Pairing acidic foods with acid-neutral foods such as chicken or lean beef reduces the effect, but as with sugars, it is not possible to completely exclude acidic foods from the diet. We’re going to need a strategy beyond simply mixing problem items.
Other Criminals
If you’re only interested in maintaining healthy gums and avoiding problems like gingivitis, there are other foods you should avoid.
Foods that dry the mouth; they should be avoided because they reduce the main defense against bacteria, namely your saliva. The most common culprits in this category are alcohol and beverages like coffee. It’s easy to see how things can come together to create the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive and with it gingivitis to emerge. A few snacks throughout the day, a coffee or two, wine or beer.
Bread and other foods high in starch; Do you have a sandwich for lunch or potato chips for dinner? These may sound like a good choice for you, but the truth is that these simple carbohydrates hang in your mouth and turn into simple sugars so beloved by bacteria.
Soda, sports drinks and energy drinks; Avoid them if possible.
Why is a multifaceted approach necessary?
Avoiding foods is not the answer. We set out to look at what foods are best avoided to maintain healthy gums and reduce the risk of related problems, serving to paint a picture of how difficult it is to avoid these foods.
Many foods have the potential to be problematic. Bacteria are not very fussy and feed on leftover scraps. A typical day can be filled with foods that are on the list to avoid. In short, avoiding all the foods we can list is not the solution, certainly not all of them.
Gum Disease Is Common
Gum disease and gingivitis are not inevitable, but both are incredibly common.
As scary as it may sound, almost everyone will have gum disease at some stage, but for most, this will be a routine case of gingivitis and is easily treated by your hygienist.
The fact that it is so widespread shows that there is no need for embarrassment. Gingivitis can be painful, cause bleeding gums, and be associated with bad breath, but it’s also a common condition and treatable. Another positive aspect is that while you can’t effectively treat gingivitis at home, a thorough cleaning by a hygienist by a specialist and removing all plaque on the teeth and under the gums will reduce the swelling over time.
At this stage, improved dental hygiene and cutting out or reducing a few of the potentially worst foodstuffs become key to preventing the condition from returning in any way.
Making other lifestyle changes can also be helpful, such as cutting down on smoking.
Gingivitis and Periodontitis
In the long run, bleeding gums and gingivitis can lead to a more serious condition called periodontitis if left uncontrolled.
Periodontitis is much more devastating, it gnaws at bone and gums, the potential consequences are obvious, teeth are wobbly and eventually there is a risk of tooth loss.
We mentioned earlier that the majority of adults have some degree of gum disease, three statistics regarding periodontitis stand out.
The most recent national dental health survey found that 54% of adults had moderate symptoms of the condition.
A 2009 study found that 37% of the adult population suffers from moderate to chronic levels of periodontitis. Globally, severe periodontitis has been found to affect 11% of the adult population.
Periodontitis, the sixth most common disease in the world, is significantly linked to negatively impacting overall well-being and longevity.
Periodontitis can often be present for decades without diagnosis and treatment, because symptoms may initially feel the same as more common gum problems; inflammation and bleeding gums. However, it causes much greater damage in the long run and needs to be treated by a periodontist.
Given that gingivitis is easy to treat and periodontitis is so devastating, it’s really in your best interest to schedule an appointment.
You can contact us to get more information about your gum health.