Chew On This: Tooth-building Foods

June, 2003

Think your brushing and flossing, and your sugarless gums advertised as preventing cavities, will help protect your pearly wishes? Think again! Brushing doesn't do much good if you fill your mouth with the wrong foods. Food can rot your teeth, or they can act as a second toothbrush, and save you repeat trips to the dentist.

We've all learned in school that we need calcium for strong and healthy teeth. And during National Dairy Month, you can celebrate good oral hygiene with yogurt, milk, and the Good For Your Gums Smiley Smoothie. Or try a grilled cheese.

But other foods boost your teeth as well. If you can't eat dairy, for example, soy milk is an alternative. Just choose a brand fortified with vitamins A and D and, of course, calcium, since soy milk doesn't contain as much of these as regular milk. Foods such as lemons, oranges (especially the peels), and cooked rhubarb are high in calcium. In the veggie department, 1/2 cup of greens, spinach, or beans such as kidney and garbanzo will help meet calcium requirements. Salmon, scallops and shrimp also give your bones and teeth a boost.

Sometimes, though, you just can't eat to win. The American Dental Association reports that fruits, bread, milk, and cereals contain sugar and starches, even when we're eating unsweetened bread and cereals and drinking pure (not chocolate) milk. Juice itself contains natural sugar (fructose and glucose), which is why it's wise to limit children's juice drinking, and your own (see "How To Drink Juice Responsibly").

Still, you can't go wrong with drinking to National Dairy Month and toasting your teeth while slathering Spice Up Your Smile Nacho Cheese Spread on blue corn tortilla chips. Let's see those pearly white teeth---say "Calcium"!