We all like sweets, cheese and fruits. But are we all able to eat in such a manner that our mouth will remain healthy? In the last ten years the doctors have discovered three main reasons that cause the tooth decays: the germs that can be found at any time in our mouth, substances found in the composition of the food we eat and the actual structure of the tooth. The food compounds that cause the apparition of decay are carbohydrates and the structure of fats and proteins.



The bad effects of the carbohydrates on dental health has been studied on people that eat only fruits and vegetables (like the natives from Polynesia) or only meat (like the Eskimos) and which have perfect teeth, as long as they do not start eating carbohydrates. The tooth decays started bothering these people once they started changing their food habits, after the settling of military camps and ports. The number of the tooth problems was also low during the Second World War, when, due to the lack of food and the restrictions installed by the government, people had little access to this sort of food, so the carbohydrates percentage in the daily meals was very low. Once the war stopped and people got back to their normal food habits tooth decays appeared in a larger number that before.



The bad effect of the carbohydrates over dental health depends also on the period that the tooth has been in contact with this substance. Regarding this aspect, the studies revealed the fact that the soft dishes are more harmful than the crispy ones, and that the powder is more harmful than the liquid. In addition to this, if the sweets that you use to eat are tacky and they stick to your teeth (like toffees for example) they prove to be more harmful than the other ones, because they remain in places of your mouth that can be hard to clean.



If you want to rank the food types and establish which one is more harmful than another you can do it taking into consideration the percentage of sugar found in their structure. For example, the raw starch from the vegetables and fruits is not that harmful, but if you mix it with sugar (as you found it in bread and cookies) it proves to be very dangerous for the teeth.

The counterattack to all these bad habits is washing your teeth at the end of each meal. If it is not possible to wash your teeth, that chew gum after each meal for about fifteen minutes. Raw fruits and vegetables have the same cleaning effect, and, of course, do not forget about the visits to the doctor and the check-ups you should do at least twice a year.