According to DentalPlans.com, Americans spend $106 billion to have their teeth cleaned, whitened, or otherwise maintained each year. While many of these costs are unavoidable, others can be avoided with a little knowledge.
Even as we try to eat nutritious, healthy food, we often make decisions that do more harm than good, especially where our dental health is concerned. Oftentimes, we choose foods that are great for our waistline but will lead to the need for expensive cosmetic dental treatments. Surprisingly, some of the biggest offenders are foods we’re told we should eat more of in order to keep ourselves in shape. If you’re one of the many who take great care to eat wel,l but you can’t stay away from the cosmetic dental clinic, here are some of the foods that might be causing your grief.
Three Foods You Probably Didn’t Know Ruin Teeth
Canned Fruit
Canned fruits are one of the most popular foods among runners and others looking to start their mornings right, without the hassle of preparing fruit for themselves. The trouble with canned fruit, according to Men’s Health, is that it often comes packed in syrup. Viscous syrups stick to teeth, giving bacteria all the juice they need to produce enamel-damaging acid and plaque. Switching to a non-syrup variety will help, but the high sugar content of normal canned fruit can still have an effect.
Dried Fruits and Vegetables
Like canned fruit, most people eat dried fruits and vegetables with the goal of keeping their teeth and body in tip-top shape. As The Huffington Post writes, however, dried fruit and other starchy fruits and vegetables are among the most damaging foods for your teeth. Starchy, sticky food works to cement sugars to your teeth, making them harder to keep clean. While fresh fruit, like apples, will help to shine your teeth as their skin rubs across your chompers, dried fruits do the exact opposite.
Your Morning Cup of Tea
Tea comes with a long list of health benefits. From helping to burn fat to acting as an antioxidant, tea has long been seen as a cure-all across many cultures. Even so, if you want to avoid cosmetic dentistry costs, you should limit your intake. As WebMD points out, the tannic acid in tea can actually stain your teeth worse than coffee!
