The Dental Diet: Here’s Something to Chew On/Link up

Ladies since Nina and I are discussing morning self-care for our August Wellness Wednesdays one thought that dawned on me while brushing my teeth is there a diet for taking care of our teeth and gums? Or do we just rely on brushing, flossing our teeth, and regular visits to the dentist to keep our teeth and gums healthy?

My smile and my teeth are very important to me and I want to take good care of them for as long as I can. Along with taking care of my teeth and gums, externally I enjoyed researching the foods that will also help my teeth stay in better health. With all my Googling I came upon many articles about a good dental diet and even one dentist has written a book aptly named The Dental Diet.

Dr. Steven Lin, an experienced dentist and the world’s first dental nutritionist, has analyzed our ancestral traditions, epigenetics, gut health, and the microbiome in order to develop food-based principles for a literal top-down holistic health approach. Merging dental and nutritional science, Dr. Lin lays out the dietary program that can help ensure you won’t need dental fillings or cholesterol medications—and give you the resources to raise kids who develop naturally straight teeth. With our mouth as the gatekeeper of our gut, keeping our oral microbiome balanced will create a healthy body through a healthy mouth.

Did you know that your mouth is the window to your health? The state of our teeth and gums can often signal serious health problems, including cardiovascular disease, celiac disease, diabetes, sinus infection, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel disease, gastroesophageal reflux, alcoholism, and more. In fact, your dentist can sometimes diagnose these conditions before your doctor!

After reading 6 articles on a dental diet for today’s blog, there are foods that will help you take better care of your teeth and gums in the morning at breakfast. To keep your teeth and gums healthy you should be doing whole foods for the dental diet not supplements.

Here are some great foods you can have in the morning:

Yogurt and Strawberries for Breakfast

If you want perfect teeth, you better love strawberries! They are packed with Vitamin C, antioxidants and also malic acid, which could even naturally whiten your teeth. I bet you knew that already!

Yogurt definitely ticks more than one good box for your oral health. It’s packed with calcium and probiotics that protect you against cavities, gum disease, and even bad breath.

Throw some granola (low sugar preferred) with oats and other grains on top to lower the risk of gum disease.

Black coffee

We all know black coffee stains our teeth but a series of recent studies have shown that black coffee could protect your teeth from tooth decay and actually help fight plaque. There, of course, is a small catch, the coffee needs to be black and unsweetened. (If you’re into whitening your teeth, you will need to drink your black coffee through a straw to avoid staining your bleached pearly whites!)

Black and Green Tea

Think polyphenols! Polyphenols have been known to reduce bacteria and toxic products of bacteria in the mouth. Tea also tends to be rich in fluoride, which is a well-known necessity for healthy teeth. It’s best if you drink it unsweetened as sugar and even honey could ruin the party.

Crunch on some fruit like Apples and Pears for Breakfast

Will an apple a day keep the dentist away? Probably not, but it will certainly help. It’s packed with key nutrients and vitamins. Unlike many acidic fruits, raw pears are good at neutralizing acids, which makes them a perfect snack at any time.

Red Wine wins again! (I just had to throw this one in!)

If you’re not a morning person, by all means, enjoy a glass of red wine at night. It’s another staining food for your teeth but according to a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a glass of red wine can have a strong antimicrobial effect against cavities causing bacteria. Cheers to these brave scientists!

I hope you enjoyed today’s Wellness Wednesday blog post about a dental diet for your teeth and gums. I prefer smiling with my teeth than with my lips closed. It makes me look too serious don’t you think?

Come and join Nina and me today on our Wellness Wednesday Link up!

Here’s the 411 on the link up:

Don’t forget to hop over to Nina’s blog to check out what she’s had as a midlife wake up call. Please share your diet, exercise, healthy living, good mental health, fitness, wellness and health posts.  If you haven’t done a link up, or want to see the other linkups I participate in click here. #WellnessWednesday

         LINK UP PARTY

Every Wednesday at 7 AM EST through the following Tuesday, Bloggers, and Instagramers will be able to share their favorite HEALTH AND WELLNESS posts by clicking the blue Inlinkz button below. Adding your link will allow you to show off your hard work, make new connections, and gain new followers! Add posts relating to self-care, working out, health, healthy eating, recipes, and fitness. Here’s what to do . . . Join Robin from Hello I’m 50ish and Nina from Sharing A Journey on at least one of their Social Media accounts:

Nina from Sharing A Journey on Bloglovin, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Follow me on Bloglovin, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Be sure to tell your friends about this linkup so they can join in the fun too. The more the merrier! Have fun hopping around all the Blogs and Instagram accounts that have linked up! By linking up you acknowledge that you have rights to the photograph you are using for the thumbnail and that the thumbnail may be used on our group Pinterest board, featured in an outfit or look of the week or month, or a slideshow on other social media.