Davenport Dental Group is committed to giving you and your smile the best chance possible to stay healthy. Part of that is through the thorough and caring dental care that we provide for you. Teeth cleanings and dental exams, gum disease care, as well as oral cancer screenings are part of keeping your smile safe, but the team at Davenport Dental Group goes a step further by also offering nutritional counseling. The foods you eat can either help you teeth, or hurt them. Protect your smile, and call either of our two area locations today to schedule your dental care.

5 Smile Killing Foods

  • Coffee

Before you stop reading, just let us make our case. We know that coffee is a necessary part of many people’s lives, and we are not saying you HAVE to stop drinking it. What we are saying is that you should limit how much you drink and rinse your mouth out after having some.

Coffee will stain your teeth over time, and leave you with a dim smile. The impact that the color of your teeth have on the appearance of your smile cannot be overstated. It is one of the first things people notice. Swish water around your mouth after having a cup of coffee, or even better, bring a travel toothbrush and clean your teeth after finishing your coffee. This will help hold back the staining effects of coffee, and keep you smile bright.

  • Soft Drinks

Unlike coffee, where we acknowledged that you may need to drink it, absolutely nothing good comes from drinking soft drinks. Soda is highly acidic (bad for your tooth enamel), filled with sugar (again bad for tooth enamel), and contains no beneficial vitamins or minerals. All soft drinks do is attack your teeth and give you a sugar high.

Eliminating soda from your diet will do nothing but good things for you and your smile. It will also show any young ones in your household that there are other, healthier options to cracking open a soda can.

  • Hard and Soft Candy

Hard and soft candies are terrible for your teeth. The candies are basically sugar and some other stuff that neither of us can pronounce correctly. The candies have a tendency to stick to your teeth, leaving the sugar in contact with your tooth enamel for long periods of time. This can elevate your chances of developing tooth decay.

The sugar in the candy also acts like fuel for the bacteria inside your mouth. This bacteria can wreak havoc on your gum tissue and cause an issue like gum disease. A Jolly Rancher should not cost you the health of your gums. That is far too high a price. Instead, grab an apple. They taste great, clean your teeth while you eat them, and have vitamins and minerals to help you stay healthy.

  • Wine

For anyone that has been at a dinner party, we have all seen the one person who loves red wine just a bit too much. This isn’t because they are drunk and stumbling, but rather because their teeth have taken on the same color as the wine they are drinking. Red wine is really good at two things. One, relaxing us after a really hard day at work, and two, severely staining our teeth.

Rinsing your mouth with water after drinking red wine will help clear those staining particles from your mouth. If you can, brushing your teeth after drinking wine will do loads of good for the color of your smile. Red wine falls into the same necessary category as coffee, so we won’t even try to get you to quit, though a nice white wine from time to time wouldn’t hurt.

  • Black Tea

Surprisingly, black tea can be even more damaging to the color of your teeth than red wine. Though, it is just as relaxing after a hard day or when you don’t feel very well. Rinse with water, or brush your teeth to lessen the effects that black tea may have on your smile.

Now, green tea on the other hand can be very good for your teeth. Research has shown that it can help stem the spread of gingivitis in your mouth. So, if you have to drink hot tea, maybe think about some hot green tea instead of the traditional black.

Brighten Your Smile at Davenport Dental Group

Call either of our two Laredo area dental offices today to take care of your smile. You can reach our Junction Drive dental office at 956-242-6745, or speak to our Winfield location at 956-517-2695. The expert dental team at Davenport Dental Group will make sure that you and your smile are properly taken care of.