Sugar and your smile

It is common knowledge that eating too much sugar is bad from you. A chief cause of obesity and its associated problems, sugar is also a chief culprit for type two diabetes and a number of cancers. Your dental health can also seriously suffer from the effects of sugar. Sugar erodes your teeth and causes tooth decay. This is turn leads to cavities which can require a filling or in more serious cases can affect the nerves in your tooth and need more extensive treatment like a root canal. Tooth decay can also lead to gum disease and painful abscesses which can all have a serious effect on not just your health but also your confidence, personal and professional relationships.

 

As well as the obvious products like sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks there are a number of food and drink products which contain high amounts of sugar. Food stuffs like ketchup and white bread are full of unlikely sugar. Even when you believe you are being extremely healthy and reaching for the smoothies and fruit juices you are subjecting your teeth to high levels of natural sugar which can cause just as much damage to your teeth. With some conscious choices you can easily take care of both your teeth and your body.

 

A couple of easy changes you can make are to substitute some high sugar products with healthier alternatives. For example swapping fizzy drinks with sparkling water with a drop of fruit juice or opting for sweetener rather than sugar in your tea or coffee. Alternatively replace jam with banana on your toast for a sweet treat in the morning. Avoid breakfast cereal which is coated in a frosting as this can up its sugar content to over 50 percent and always up for tinned fruit stored in juice rather than syrup. With some serious willpower you can substitute biscuits or cake for pineapple or grapes which have a lower sugar count than other fruit.

 

By always reading the labels on your supermarket shop you can make sure you are always minimising the damage sugar will have on your smile. Try to choose labels with the green sugar level as much as possible and always stick to your  Keeping up with a good oral hygiene routine will help keep plaque at bay and ensure you do not have to spend too long in the dentists’ chair!

 

Be sure to make regular appointments with our hygienist here at Cornerhouse by contacting us.