Practicing good oral hygiene by brushing your teeth for two minutes twice per day and flossing before bed is key to removing food particles and plaque from your smile. Though this is an important part of maintaining a gorgeous grin, so is avoiding foods that can damage your pearly whites. Read on to learn about foods that can harm your smile as well as how this jeopardizes your oral health.
Foods That Can Chip Teeth
It’s well known that sweets like candy, cookies, and soda can contribute to cavity formation by feeding harmful oral bacteria. There are also several foods that can harm your smile if you eat them incorrectly, including:
- Peaches, olives, cherries, and other fruits and vegetables with large pits
- Biscotti, pretzels, baguettes, and other hard breads
- Dried meats like jerky
- Popcorn kernels
- Corn on the cob
- Nuts and seeds
- Hard candy
- Ice cubes
Dangers of Chipped Teeth
A chipped tooth can make your smile look uneven or lopsided, but it can also be bad news for your dental health. Sharp edges can cut your cheeks, tongue, or gums. Additionally, chipped teeth are more likely to break and can cause sensitivity. Weakened enamel also makes the tooth more susceptible to decay. Deep chips also give bacteria access to the inner parts of the tooth, which can lead to an infection that will need to be treated with a root canal. If the damage is bad enough, you may need to have it extracted.
How Your Dentist Can Repair a Chipped Tooth
If you do end up chipping a tooth, contact your dentist as soon as possible and explain what happened. They will be able to walk you through what to do next and will have you come into their office as soon as possible to evaluate the damage. There are several ways that your dentist may go about repairing the damaged tooth, including:
- Dental filling – If only a small piece of enamel broke off, your dentist may be able to use a tooth-colored dental filling to restore it.
- Porcelain veneers – These are thin shells made from porcelain that cover the entire front part of a tooth to cover up cosmetic issues like chips.
- Cosmetic bonding – A tooth that’s chipped in the front may be repaired with dental bonding, which uses a composite, tooth-colored material to cover the damage.
- Dental crown – These tooth-shaped caps cover the entire visible part of the tooth to patients back the look and function of a damaged tooth.
Sweet foods can harm your smile, but they aren’t the only treats you should be wary of. Make sure to eat the above foods that can chip teeth carefully or avoid them altogether to protect your pearly whites and maintain a gorgeous grin!
About the Practice
There are several foods that can chip teeth and leave your oral health in harm’s way. If you happen to damage one of your pearly whites while eating, contact Advanced Smile Design so they can get your smile back on track. They offer both cosmetic and restorative treatments to repair your teeth and allow you to once again sport a gorgeous, brag-worthy, and healthy-looking grin you’re sure to adore. To set up a consultation with Advanced Smile Design or for more information on their services, visit their website or call their office at (215) 659-3334.
