Nutrition and Your Teeth  

Nutrition is an important part of the preventive concept of dentistry. The relationship between diet and dental health is well established in scientific literature, yet negative attitudes toward the application of nutrition still exist. The integration of nutrition into dentistry based on sound scientific evidence is what makes nutrition "work" as an integral part of a good preventive dental program.

Nutrition is the science of how the body digests, absorbs, metabolizes, and stores food in the development, growth, and maintenance of body tissues and structures. Diet refers to the pattern of food intake; while the study of diet and nutrition includes the understanding of environment and of human behavior in the use of foods. Your teeth themselves, bone structure that supports those teeth and the gums and other (soft tissue) around the teeth are all influenced by nutrition.

The initiation, extension, or inhibition of oral disease is affected by nutritional and dietary factors. These diet-nutrition factors play a role in the responsibility of the host (your mouth) and the virulence (existence) of the agent. For example, dietary carbohydrates play a crucial part in dental plaque metabolism. The interrelationships of the etiological factors include:

Host susceptibility (teeth and periodontium)

Microflora (microorganisms)

Time (the time microorganisms have to make to interact with substrates-carbohydrates to make plaque and the time plaque remains on teeth)

The person (with his/her life style, values, and health priorities).

Nutrition can also influence the flow rate, quantity, and composition saliva. It can have an effect on the structure, composition, and phys-chemical properties of erupted teeth; and it can be involved in the remineralization potential of erupted dentition. Nutrition is important in the development, maturation, and continued health of periodontal tissues and structures. Of course, nutrition exerts an affect on a variety of biochemical systems as well.

Proper salivary gland development, salivary flow, and salivary composition depend on adequate dietary protein. Protein deficiency can lead to decreased salivary flow and decreased buffering capacity. Increased caries susceptibility of protein deficient rats may be the result of salivary dysfunction. It was found that protein deficient diets fed to animals resulted in increased caries susceptibility, smaller teeth, and delayed eruption time.