Nutrition and Diet Tips for Optimal Mouth Health!
Video Transcript:
How often do you think about your mouth and the health of your mouth?
Sometimes we may only be thinking about our mouth when we have to make those twice-a-year visits to the dentist. And of course, brushing and flossing our teeth and hoping that once you're at the dentist, they're not gonna be finding anything wrong.
What we have found is that nearly 100% of Americans have at least one cavity. So that means that maybe it's not just all about brushing and flossing. And so what are other ways that we need to take care of our oral health?
I think sometimes we don't think all the time about what we're eating and what we're drinking and how that affects our teeth and our gums. So today we're gonna walk through some nutrition ways to help support the health of your mouth.
I'm Marcie Vaske, I'm a functional medicine nutritionist and I specialize in gut health.
So I see people with diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas, and that's really just to name a few things, but even those people sometimes end up having issues such as hormone issues or maybe a thyroid disorder or even insulin resistance.
And so working with a wide variety of people in gut health and in their system in general. So if this sounds like you or maybe someone you know and love, you can easily make an initial appointment and start your journey to better health.
But if you're kind of like to sort of do things on their own, you can download our free guide, which is Five Ways to Improve Your Gut Health. And that way you can get started on a few tips to help improve your gut and maybe you don't even have anything going on but just wanna live a better, happier life.
So let's head down the pathway of some nutrition for mouth health.
What nutrition is good for oral health?
So what are some ways that we can improve our mouth health if it's struggling or at least keep it happy if it's already happy?
Eating a healthy diet and eating a nice balanced whole-food diet
In general, I talk all the time about eating a healthy diet and eating a nice balanced whole-food diet. So keeping foods that are proteins, healthy carbohydrates, and healthy fats will give you the nutrients that are gonna be essential to some good oral health key in nutrients for or good oral health look like.
Calcium, vitamin D, we wanna make sure we're getting in lots of vitamin C and fiber. So as we take a look at making sure our foods are whole foods and well-balanced, what's one food, and I'm sure you've heard this your whole life, that we wanna keep out? Of course, excess sugar.
So we wanna make sure that we're limiting sugar and sugar treats, sugar snacks as well as beverages that contain a lot of sugar.
So sodas or some of those energy drinks, those types of things with all that sugar in them tend to erode the enamel on your teeth, creating decay and cavities. So if you have a soda habit, one thing you wanna get rid of is going to be that not only for overall health but definitely your oral health.
Increase your water intake
Another tip that you want to keep in your diet, and I talk about this all the time too, is water. So many people are dehydrated and walking around, dehydrated and not even really noticing it. And water can help to rinse away bacteria and food particles from our teeth, helping keep them clean and sparkling.
So not only do you wanna make sure you're getting enough water for your body daily, but obviously for good oral health and getting rid of bacteria and extra food particles, drinking water is gonna be number two on the list.
You know, thinking about getting half your body weight and ounces is really ideal for water intake. But if you're only drinking a couple of cups of water right now, I don't recommend jumping up to half your body weight in water.
Maybe just try to get in the simple eight cups per day. You know, finding a variety of ways to do that. But water is gonna be so key for so many things, not only like I said, oral health, but your whole body in general.
Get enough Calcium and Vitamin D
So as I mentioned, certain vitamins and minerals are gonna be essential for good oral health and a couple of them are calcium and vitamin D. Calcium and vitamin D are also health good for our bone health and wonderful for our teeth and gum health.
And so look for extra calcium and make sure you're getting enough in dairy products, and green leafy vegetables, and finding vitamin D in fatty fish or even eggs. And adding those things daily into our diet and making sure you're getting enough is gonna be key to oral health.
Sometimes we're like, get enough of that food and maybe it's too scattered, really, maybe your body isn't getting enough of that. So pay attention. Are you eating enough green leafy vegetables? Are you eating eggs with the yolk? So it has that wonderful vitamin D in there. How much salmon are you getting?
Pay attention to what your diet looks like and that will make sure that you get enough calcium and vitamin D.
Get enough Vitamin C
So another vitamin that we wanna make sure we're getting enough of is vitamin C. And vitamin C actually helps in the production of collagen and keeps our gums nice and healthy.
So you can find vitamin C and citrus fruits, berries, kiwi, and broccoli. And again, just make sure that you're getting enough of those in per day and those little tips will help keep your mouth happy, and healthy.
And besides the daily brushing and flossing that we need to be doing to keep our teeth and gums healthy, look at your diet. Is it made up of whole real rich foods, things with plenty of protein, and good vegetables, vitamin C, calcium, and vitamin D, are you getting good healthy fats?
It's essential that we begin to eat healthier and of course, we all want good oral health and that downstream into the rest of our body. If we're chewing up good food, then the rest of our body will get those nutrients as well and our system will be running well.
So tips for good nutrition for mouth health. Simple, quick, easy things to add to your daily diet.
If you'd like to explore any of this information further or obtain an individualized nutrition plan, you can schedule an initial appointment at our clinic. We also take insurance and some of our clients get full coverage, which is great.
Curious about what type of gut you have? Take our Free Quiz now!
