subscribe to beauty blog via RSSDr. Lowenberg’s Food For Thought
March 13, 2009 4:56 pm
This column features weekly tips and advice from a revolving cast of industry leaders, on hand to discuss your beauty dilemmas, from blemishes to Botox. To submit a question, e-mail celia_ellenberg@condenast.com.
I know that excessive amounts of sugar is bad for your teeth, but are there other things I should be steering clear of—or adding to my diet—to maintain optimal mouth health?
The quantity and quality of sugar-sweetened foods that you consume is of less concern than the frequency with which you consume them during the day. In other words, it is better to eat large amounts of sugar after a meal than to expose your teeth to a small amount of sugar on a frequent schedule, because during meals saliva production is increased, and this helps in neutralizing the acid from sugars that may damage teeth. Here are a few simple dietary guidelines to help you nourish healthy teeth and gums:
Limit the number of snacks that you eat: Every time you eat foods that contain sugars, your teeth are attacked by acids for 20 minutes or more.
Mind the structure of your meals: Try to incorporate “tough foods” into your daily diet as they increase saliva production and help in the self-cleaning of teeth.
Avoid the soft and sticky: Foods with this consistency can attach to and get in between teeth, providing a favorable place for bacteria to grow.
Good foods to incorporate: Fresh milk, vegetables, yogurt, cheese, whole wheat bread.
Bad foods to avoid: sugar, honey, jam, milk with sugar, white bread, cakes and sweets, ice cream, chocolate, biscuits.
As a leader in the cosmetic dentistry movement, Dr. Marc Lowenberg is renowned in celebrity circles for an artistic ability to perfect his patients’ smiles, bearing in mind their individual facial structure and personality. Making regular appearances on television programs like Extreme Makeover, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Live With Regis and Kelly, the Today show, and Good Morning America, Dr. Lowenberg is also a popular fixture on the lecture circuit—and in New York, where he runs a private practice with his partner, Dr. Gregg Lituchy.
tags: Dr. Marc Lowenberg, Teeth
