Smart Dietary Habits

 
What you eat directly feeds the bacteria in your mouth and the bacteria in your mouth set the stage for dental health or dental problems.
 
CARBOHYDRATES-RICH DIETS: 

If you eat a lot of carbohydrates, you will have an acidic mouth (because the bacteria that live in an acidic mouth produce acids).  These acids bore holes (known as cavities) in your teeth.  This is how carbohydrates cause cavities.

 

PROTEIN-RICH DIETS:
If you do not eat much carbohydrate and tend to eat a lot of protein, you will tend to have a basic (alkaline) mouth, because the bacteria that live in a basic mouth produce bases.  Base-producing bacteria break down your gum and bone structure, a process known as gum disease.
 
BALANCED DIETS:
What you need to do is make sure to manage your diet in a way that does not feed one bacterial group over another.  If you have a balanced bacterial population in your mouth, they will tend to neutralize each other, and you will tend to have no severe dental problems.  You may get a cavity here and there, or a bit of gum disease here and there, but nothing that causes you tremendous grief.