By Changing Your Diet, You Can Reduce Tooth Sensitivity

It is estimated that between 15 to 20 percent of the population suffers from sensitive teeth at some point in their lives. Research estimates that as you get older, your teeth may begin to lose enamel, and may become more sensitive. Did you know that you can make changes in your diet to reduce sensitivity? We have some information that can help you keep your teeth as healthy as possible.

What Dietary Changes Can I Make?

There are several foods you may want to avoid, or at least eat less of, in order to reduce your tooth sensitivity. First, people with sensitive teeth struggle with eating extremely hot or extremely cold foods, because they cause pain. Ice cream is one of the largest offenders in this category, because of its cold temperature. Also, because ice cream has such high amounts of sugar, it leads to bacteria growth on the teeth, which leads to further breakdown of tooth enamel. If you can reduce your ice cream intake, you may be able to reduce your tooth sensitivity.

Another change you can make to improve tooth health is to cut down on candy. Just like ice cream, candy contains a lot of sugar. Excess sugar leads to bacterial growth. Over time, those bacteria eat at your tooth enamel, and can create holes in it. Those holes can allow teeth to become more sensitive. The more sugar you eat, the more damage sugar in candies can damage your teeth.

Some Food Textures Can Also Cause Harm
There are some candies that can cause more damage than others. For example, while hard candies can damage your teeth because it takes a while to eat them, chewy candies are worse. That's because pieces of the candies can stick in your teeth, and they are difficult to remove, which means the bacteria have longer to grow in your mouth. Reducing the amount of candy in your mouth will help tooth sensitivity.

In addition to candy and ice cream, you can reduce tooth sensitivity by reducing the amount of alcohol you are drinking. Many alcoholic beverages contain high amounts of sugar, which increase tooth decay and tooth sensitivity. Wine is perhaps the biggest offender, because in addition to sugar, wine contains acids, which increases tooth sensitivity.

If you have questions about how you can reduce tooth sensitivity, give us a call. We'd love to talk with you about your teeth!