Published on March 3, 2023
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There’s a commonality among over-fat people of all ages: Many have problems with their oral health.
People know that what they eat affects their weight, but many are surprised to hear that what they eat affects their oral health—no matter how many Listerine chasers they may have a day!
Think of it: Your teeth come in contact with every part of your diet that enters your mouth.
Invisible germs called bacteria live in your mouth all the time. Some of these bacteria form a sticky material called 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑞𝑢𝑒 on the surface of the teeth. (Plaque is a film of microorganisms that grows on surfaces within the mouth; a sticky colorless deposit at first, but when it forms tartar, it is often brown or pale yellow.) When you put sugar in your mouth, the bacteria in the plaque gobble up the sweet stuff and turn it into acids. These acids are powerful enough to dissolve the hard enamel that covers your teeth. That’s how cavities get started.
If you don’t eat much sugar, the bacteria can’t produce as much of the acid that eats away enamel.
Also, certain kinds of sweets can do more damage than others. Gooey or chewy sweets spend more time sticking to the surface of your teeth. Because sticky snacks stay in your mouth longer than foods that you quickly chew and swallow, they give your teeth a longer sugar bath.
A diet built around refined and processed carbohydrate foods leads to not only an ever-expanding waist line but also to the cumulative build-up of plaque on teeth and gums. This build-up leads to 𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑠 (gum inflammation). That leads to 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 (infection of the tissues that support your teeth), and then to the more advanced 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑠 (gums and bone that support the teeth can become seriously damaged).
An expanding waist line leads to obesity. Obesity leads to diabetes (poor blood glucose control). Diabetes makes gum problems more likely.
As kids, our diet influences how our teeth develop. As adults, all teeth in place, what we eat plays a role in maintaining dental health.
This is another in a long list of how what we eat affects more than just our waist lines.
