Receding gums causes a great problem to your oral health and creates discomfort. Sometimes, they become very painful and make you unable to chew anything. In this situation, you have to adopt some preventive measures.
Avoid foods that might cause pain and discomfort for individuals with receding gum lines. People with huge gums should avoid acidic food and beverages such as soda, citrus, coffee, pasta, bread, and the like.
Receding Gums
Receding gum lines (also known as periodontal disease) is the number one cause of tooth loss. A person with receding gums may experience pain, bleeding, or swelling of the gums when they brush their teeth. Some people also experience loose teeth or changes in the way their teeth fit together when they chew.
What are the Dangers?
Certain foods and Drinking acidic drinks such as soda, lemonade, orange juice, coffee, and tea can lead to a dry mouth. When saliva flow decreases at night, normal oral bacteria overgrow and cause inflammation. This inflammation damages the soft tissue around teeth, loosening them even more, which can be extremely painful for someone with receding gums! To avoid these kinds of foods and
The causes of receding gums in some people are the shrinking and separation of the gum and teeth and increased spaces between these two tissues. This is caused by a loss of tooth-supporting bone, which leads to tooth loss.
This can also be caused by having heavy chewing habits which put undue pressure on the teeth or can result from decreased saliva production or under activity of the muscles that hold your jaw in place.
Top Worst Foods and Drinks for Your Teeth and Why
Everyone’s teeth are different, and some people might be better at managing acidic foods than others. We’ve come up with a list of the worst foods and drinks for your teeth, according to dental professionals:
1. Minimize Energy drinks to avoid gum disease:
There is a lot of sugar, caffeine, and other acidic ingredients in energy drinks that speed up the erosion of your enamel and cause cavities.
2. Sports Drinks:
Sports drinks like Gatorade contain high levels of carbonation and phosphoric acid, which will eat away at the surface of your teeth if they sit in your mouth for an extended period (even post-workout). If you’re going for a sports drink after working out, make sure to brush your teeth after.
3. Cheese:
Cheese contains a high amount of calcium which could help protect receding gums because calcium plays a vital role in supporting enamel. Still, it also contains a high amount of lactic acid, an acidic substance found in dairy products, leading to increased saliva production. Common symptoms are damaged teeth due to tooth cavities as well as gum disease if consumed too often.
4. Coffee, Tea, and Red Wine:
Drinks containing tannin are also acidic, making them bad for your teeth since they can cause enamel erosion if you sip them over time or constantly swish them in your mouth.
5. Candies/ sugary foods:
This is not to say that sugar-free candy you can purchase from movie theaters, convenience stores, or even grocery stores is the best alternative since they still have a lot of acidity in them, which can lead to tooth cavities over time. It will cause bad breath
6. Pasta Sauce:
While there are other foods on this list that are higher in acidity than pasta sauce itself, it’s best to limit how much you eat pasta or tomato-based sauces because they can cause an increase in saliva production which damages the enamel over time which means it doesn’t help protect receding gums at all since dry mouth symptoms are one of the leading causes of gum disease. They also make your immune system weak.
7. Citrus:
It might sound counterintuitive since citrus is full of vitamins, especially vitamin C, but many fruits, including oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and limes, have high acidity levels that can begin to eat away at your teeth surface over time. Too much citrus puts you at a higher risk for cavities and gum disease, so try limiting how much citrus you ingest each day by swapping some in a smoothie for greens instead.
8. Raw Vegetables:
High acidity vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, and sweet potatoes will especially damage your gums because they can rub against them when you eat them.
9. Chewy Candy:
Chewy candy contains a lot of sugar that coats the teeth, which causes cavities or dental decay over time and irritates larger receded gum lines. Good oral hygiene is necessary.
10. Don’t use Ice Cream to prevent tooth decay:
Desserts, in general, aren’t exactly ideal for individuals with receding gum lines. Still, ice cream is one of the worst culprits since it leads to issues in your mouth due to its high levels of sugar content and low calcium levels, which means it won’t strengthen your teeth like other desserts might do (like yogurt).
11. Over-the-counter medications:
Many over-the-counter medications contain high levels of acids, so it’s best to take them with food or milk since they can irritate when they come into contact with your gums.
12. Green Tea:
Since green tea is acidic, it will usually damage your teeth which could lead to further problems with receding gums if you drink it too often without cleaning the food particles that might still be stuck in between your teeth, so make sure to brush after drinking green tea if you have a large amount of gum recession.
13. Milk:
Everyone has heard that milk helps build strong bones and teeth. Still, too much milk can lead to tooth decay and cavities over time because it doesn’t contain the calcium that some other foods might have and encourages more saliva than is necessary, which causes enamel erosion.
14. Junk Food:
Any food with high acidity levels should be avoided if you want to protect your receding gums from complications like gingivitis or even tooth loss. High amounts of chips, dips, fried foods (like french fries) and candy will increase your risk for gum disease and cavities, so make sure to limit how often you eat any junk food if you’re interested in protecting your smile.
15. Chewing Gum:
While not necessarily acidic itself, chewing on a piece of gum for a long time (especially if it contains sugar) can irritate the gum line because you’re constantly rubbing it against your teeth’ surface.
16. Soda:
Sodas contain high acidity levels, which is why they are one of the most damaging drinks for your gums, not to mention they can lead to tooth decay and cavities since sugars feed cavity-causing bacteria. Even diet sodas like Coke Zero or Diet Pepsi that don’t contain sugar still damage tooth enamel over time due to their acidic content, mostly because they’re sugary substitutes meant to attract customers who might not want all the calories in regular soda but end up doing just as much damage from other ingredients.
17. Spicy Foods or Acidic foods:
Acidic foods can lead to frosty pain around your receded gums, so avoid making your food spicy if you have many receded gums.
18. Alcohol:
While alcohol might not be as acidic as other foods on this list, the sugars in alcohol are bad for your teeth. They can lead to tooth decay or cavities if you drink too much since it causes an increase in saliva production, which breaks down enamel. Plus, drinking too much can cause receding gum lines due to its dehydrating properties that also cause dry mouth symptoms.
19. Protein Bars:
If you’re trying to protect your receding gum lines from further damage, certain protein bars like Clif Bars, with their high levels of sugar content (along with their high amount of protein), can lead to tooth decay and cavities and even gum disease.
20. Dark Chocolate:
While dark chocolate might be healthy for your heart, it’s not so great for your teeth which is why you should avoid consuming it in mass quantities if you want to protect the gums around the receded part of your gum line because most dark chocolate contains a lot of sugar which will lead to an increase in bacteria that causes tooth decay/cavities over time.
Always take a balanced diet.
