When it comes to our pearly whites, sometimes brushing alone is not enough to keep them in tip-top condition. There are certain foods and liquids that we consume on a daily basis that can seriously damage our teeth; here are just 10 of them.
1. White wine
While we all love a glass after a long, hard day, it looks like white wine carries some hidden dangers for our teeth. While red wine causes discolouration, it’s the high acidity in white wine that damages the teeth.
2. Curries
If you’re worried about yellowing teeth, you might want to avoid those curries, as that beautiful curry pigment is guaranteed to leave them discoloured.
3. White bread
Why can’t white bread be good for us? That’s all we ask! If the carbs and calories weren’t bad enough, the sugars in white bread dissolve so quickly that they cause an acid surge in the mouth, which leads to erosion of the teeth.
4. Popcorn
While it is generally considered to be a healthy snack, the danger with popcorn lies within those kernels. Biting down on hard kernels will erode your teeth, while those pieces that get wedged between your teeth breed bacteria.
5. Fizzy drinks
This won’t come as such a big surprise; the acid in fizzy drinks weakens the enamel on your teeth, and once the enamel goes, there’s no getting it back.
6. Hard fruit and veg
While munching on fruit and veg is always advised by health experts, crunching down on hard fruit and veg can make things worse for those suffering with weak teeth. A good tip for getting around this is to cut them up into smaller pieces.
7. Ice cubes
Sensitivity aside, it’s the action of crunching down on an ice cube that causes the most damage for your teeth.
8. Hard sweets
Sweets, in general, are not exactly good for your teeth, but hard sweets are particularly bad. Spending hours sucking on hard sweets only allows the harmful sugars and acids to spend more time working away on your teeth.
9. Chewy sweets
Is there any sweet that is actually good for your teeth? It would appear not. Just like popcorn, the risk with chewy sweets is that they will get stuck in your teeth, allowing plaque to build up.
10. Bottled water
The problem here is that water becomes more acidic during the purification process, which erodes the teeth and results in cavities.