Although known for their nutrition value, dry fruits can cause severe damage to your oral health. A lot of people eat them especially during the winter thinking that they are healthy snacks. Little do they know that these snacks are capable of damaging tooth enamel and causing problems to dental health.
Here are some reasons how dried fruit can be risky for your teeth health.
They Are Sugary
- Dried fruits are prepared in two different ways. The first is sun-drying and controlled drying which takes about five days to yield perfect results. The other method, industrially drying is more common because of how fast it can yield results.
The main purpose of drying the fruits is to drain the water from them so that sugar is concentrated. In the process of drying, the fruits attain 7 times more sugar than their fresh form. Moreover, most dried snacks that you buy from a local grocery don’t have vitamin C.
- Sometimes lemon or lime juice is also added to the mix simply to increase the percentage of the vitamin. This step also lowers the pH level, making dried fruit acidic. So in simple terms, dried fruit has more amount of sugar and acid content than fresh fruit, both of which are dangerous for the teeth.
What Kind of Damage Does Dry Fruit Cause to Teeth?
Dried fruits can cause a variety of dental problems. Here are some of the most common ones.
- Teeth discoloration. When fruits are dried, they can lose much of their natural color. Thus artificial colors have to be added to make them more appealing. Companies usually use food colorings made from mango, plums, or papaya. These can stain your teeth.
- Secretion injury. Non-organic dry fruits can decrease the natural saliva secretion of the mouth. Saliva is very important since it helps fight back bacteria that can lead to tooth decay. Reduced saliva means more bacterial activity in the mouth hence more oral health problems.
- Broken teeth. Some dry fruits are very sticky and chewing on them carelessly can lead to the removal of dental fillings and even teeth breaking and cracking. Fruits like nuts, pineapple, peanuts, and almonds can cause your teeth to break or chip. Chew them carefully and patiently.
- Caries. These fruits have sugar levels 7 times higher than fresh fruits. Since most of them are also sticky in nature, they can easily stick between the teeth and can lead to the formation of cavities.
In order to protect your teeth from potential damage, we highly recommend that you control the amount of dried fruit you eat. Brush and floss your teeth immediately after you have eaten a dried fruit that has high acidity and is sticky in nature.
- Eating dried fruits is not recommended if you have dental fillings. Try fruit juice, fresh fruits, and vegetables as alternatives. Should you still end up eating them, rinse them with water immediately.
Visit our dentists today for a routine dental checkup and learn if your teeth are in the right health to eat dried fruits.