Picnics in the park, neighborhood barbeques, baseball games, and camping are all fun summertime activities. However, most of us are not going to bring a toothbrush and floss to many of these. What can you do to decrease your chances of getting cavities?
Crunchy fruits and vegetables such as apples, carrots, pears, cucumbers, celery, and lettuce can help to mechanically clean food debris and bacteria from your teeth.
In addition, fruits such as cranberries, blueberries, and apples contain nutrients that decrease the stickiness of the bacteria that cause cavities. Green and black teas also contain minerals that can reduce the growth of bacteria on your teeth.
Last is my personal favorite…Cheese. While the mechanism is not completely understood, numerous studies have shown that eating cheese after eating a sugary snack greatly reduces the damage to your teeth. Cheese tends to increase the amount of saliva in your mouth which helps keep cavities at bay. Cheese can also help neutralize the acid that bacteria produce. Calcium, phosphorous, and proteins in cheese may also help remineralize damaged tooth enamel.
The best thing is that cheese just tastes so darn good. So at the next picnic have a glass of iced tea(no sugar added), a slice of cheese, and an apple….
And SMILE!!