4 Foods to Avoid for Maintaining a Healthy Smile

It is simply hard to have a bad day if you are spending a lot of time smiling. In addition to improving your day, smiling also yields several important health benefits. The only way to make sure you can continue to capitalize on the benefits of smiling is by maintaining good oral health. You already know the importance of brushing and flossing, but it is equally as important to eat well. These are the four foods you must avoid if you want to maintain a healthy smile.

Dried Fruit

Eating a small amount of dried fruit may seem like a healthy snack choice, but it is actually damaging your teeth. The process of drying fruit increases the sugar content of the fruit while also removing the beneficial vitamins and nutrients. This sticky snack also often gets stuck and trapped in the teeth, which quickly leads to bacteria growth in the mouth. While the stickiness of dried fruit makes it harmful for everyone, it is even more dangerous for Invisalign patients.

Citrus Fruits

Lemons, oranges and limes can destroy your smile because they are loaded with acid. The acid in citrus fruits will eat away at your enamel if you are not careful. This is dangerous because it is impossible to reverse enamel loss. Once this protective layer is removed from the teeth, ugly grooves and stains will start to develop. You will also likely experience painful sensitivity when eating hot and cold foods.

Salty Crackers

While they contain almost no calories, salty crackers can still wreak havoc on your smile. Crackers are loaded with dangerous fermentable carbohydrates. These processed starches turn into acid when combined with bacteria in the mouth. This acid will eat away at your teeth until all of the small crumbs of the crackers are removed from the mouth. Consuming fermentable carbohydrates drastically increases your risk of cavities and enamel loss.

Popcorn

Popcorn is one of the rare foods that can ruin your smile in multiple ways. You will only need to eat a few pieces of popcorn because something gets stuck in your teeth. These stuck particles will start producing bacteria before you are even done consuming your snack. There is also the risk of cracking or chipping a tooth after biting into a hard kernel that did not pop.

Maintaining a healthy smile is hard enough, so do not increase the difficulty by eating the wrong foods. Giving up your favorite snack is a small price to pay for a beautiful smile.