Your Method of Cooking Makes a Difference to Your Teeth

Conventional wisdom, scientific research and even  government policy tells you to eat more fruit and vegetables. Fresh fruits and veggies, as well as oven cooked food, rather than fried stuff, is good for you because much less fat is involved. Researchers from the University of Dundee, School of Dentistry have made some interesting discoveries about how cooking methods make a difference, in their search for the many causes of dental erosion. 

 The researchers focused on ratatouille, the popular vegetarian dish—not the film—because of reports that a vegetarian diet is more acidic and thus a cause for dental erosion. 

Researchers looked at how the acidity of the key ingredients—tomatoes, onions, courgettes (zucchini), aubergine(eggplant) and bell peppers were affected by the cooking method. 

• Oven baking or stewing had no impact on the acidity of tomatoes and onions. 

• Eggplant, green peppers and zucchini became more acidic when roasted.

• Stewing made red peppers more acidic. 

Taken altogether, oven cooking made the ratatouille more acidic. However, that would obviously depend on the volume and ratio of ingredients. 

These findings are not just relevant for ratatouille eaters. Everyone who is health conscious and want to protect their teeth should be aware that the method of cooking can make a difference.

Other things can make a difference to dental erosion as well, with a combination of chemical, biological and behavioral factors coming into play. Here’s what else matters:

Eating and drinking habits – Any eating habits that expose teeth to acidic drinks, acidic foods including citrus fruits, sugary drinks and sodas are bad for you in general. Eating sweets is okay. But exposing your teeth to them all the time is not. So rather than volume of food or drinks, it’s the number of servings that expose the teeth more harm. Having sweets, acidic fruits or drinks and washing your mouth helps remove food debris, sugar and acidity. But continuous swishing of drinks around the mouth or sucking and holding food in the mouth over a period of time can take a heavier toll on your teeth. This is another reason why dentists say not to allow babies to fall asleep with a bottle of formula. Studies also show that drinking vitamin C supplements, soda or fruit syrup from a feeding bottle at bedtime or nap time caused erosion in kids two to seven years old. Another habit that exposes kids teeth to sugary or acidic drinks continuously is giving it to them in sippy cups.  

• Regular exercise with dehydration – Exercise increases the loss of body fluids which in turn may lead to dehydration which decreases salivary flow. Particularly at risk are swimmers exercising in water with low pH and athletes who consume erosive sport drinks regularly. When dehydration through exercise and sports drinks come together they enhance the harmful effects. 

• Decrease of salivary flow – This can occur due to many reasons. Saliva helps wash out food debris faster and lessens effects of acidity by diluting it.  

• Excessive oral hygiene – Being too vigorous with brushing or using abrasive, hard bristled brushes can actually be harmful, speeding up erosion. Brushing too soon after meals, when teeth are softer, can also damage teeth. So dentists recommend washing the mouth with water and brushing about an hour after meals.                                                      

• Unhealthy lifestyle including chronic alcoholism can also lead to dental erosion.

You can read more about dental care and dental erosion in the FreeDentistFinder.com article archive. 

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