Bad oral hygiene habits and a diet filled with sweet foods can lead to tooth decay over time. Luckily, with regular visits to your dentist in Contra Costa County, we can diagnose tooth decay and offer prompt treatment, restoring your smile with a filling or a dental crown.
Afterward, it’s your turn to follow your dentist’s aftercare instructions to ensure the durability of your restoration. Choosing the right foods plays a big role.
5 Common Foods to Avoid to Protect Your Dental Fillings
1. Sticky Candies
We all know that sweets are cavities’ favorite foods, but their sticky texture can also damage teeth. Foods like caramels, taffy, or gummy candies can get stuck in restorations.
When trying to remove them, you could dislodge your fillings, crowns, or veneers, especially if the bond isn’t perfect or the restoration is aging.
- Try These Instead: If you want a sweet treat, opt for healthier options, such as mangoes, bananas, or melons.
2. Hard Foods
Biting into things like hard candies or unpopped popcorn kernels can crack or fracture restorations, particularly ceramic crowns or composite fillings. This type of damage can require an emergency dental visit for crown replacement or repair.
- Try These Instead: Opt for softer options during meals, such as boiled vegetables, and easy-to-chew snacks, such as yogurt and ice cream. Just remember to brush immediately after!
3. Chewy Breads
Dense, chewy bread requires excessive force when biting or tearing, which can stress crowns and larger fillings. Over time, repetitive stress may weaken the bond or create microfractures in the material.
Even soft breads can get stuck in the deep crevices of your teeth. While your restorations can’t experience decay, the tooth underneath can.
- Try These Instead: Skip tough breads like pizza crust and opt for softer options. You can also try slowly replacing your carbohydrates with options like rice paper or lettuce wraps.
4. Acidic Foods and Drinks
Acidic foods are as harmful to your mouth as sugar. They slowly erode your enamel and reduce saliva production, an essential aid when fighting tooth decay. Over time, foods like citric foods, energy drinks, or vinegar-based dressings can slowly erode the margins where the restoration meets the tooth.
Over time, this can compromise the seal, leading to secondary decay beneath fillings or crown edges.
- Try These Instead: We always recommend drinking water over acidic drinks. It helps remove leftover food debris and restores the pH of your mouth.
5. Tough Vegetables
No healthcare professional will tell you to stop eating fruits and vegetables, but we can ask you to boil them first. Raw carrots, for instance, can be too tough for your restorations, potentially chipping or even dislodging them completely.
- Try These Instead: Boil foods like carrots, potatoes, or sweet potatoes to achieve a softer texture before eating. Be careful with seeds when eating fruits like grapes. Cut apples into small pieces to avoid biting into them, especially if you have veneers.
Protect Your New Smile with Advice from Your Dentist in Contra Costa County!
Even with the best of care, decay can happen. The foods you eat, your oral hygiene habits, and even genetic conditions can increase your chances of developing cavities, which require dental restorations to restore your smile.
However, proper care is crucial to ensure their longevity. Besides avoiding certain foods, getting frequent dental cleanings at Coliseum Dental Concord can effectively prevent plaque buildup that puts your smile at risk. So reach out, and let’s ensure your restorations remain strong for years to come!
