Nutrient-Poor Diets May Contribute to Gum Disease

It’s important to make healthy food choices and take supplements as necessary to ensure an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals. Acting in concert, these essential vitamins and minerals perform hundreds of roles in the body, ranging from shoring up bones and healing wounds to bolstering your immune system, converting food into energy, and repairing cellular damage.

But a nutrient-poor diet can make it difficult for the body to perform these functions and may lead to other health concerns, including dental problems.¹ For example, it may be more difficult for tissues in your mouth to resist infection without certain nutrients, which could contribute to periodontal (gum) disease, a major cause of adult tooth loss.¹ Although poor nutrition is not a direct cause of periodontal disease, many researchers believe that the disease advances more quickly and is potentially more severe in people whose diets lack certain nutrients.¹

So what can you do? The American Dental Association (ADA) offered the following advice:

• Keep a healthy diet.

• Use a fluoride toothpaste with the ADA's Seal of Acceptance and brush gently twice a day. Pay special attention to the gum line.

• Floss at least once a day to remove the thin, naturally occurring film of bacteria known as plaque from under the gums and between teeth.

• Visit your dentist regularly for cleanings and checkups.

• Drink plenty of water.

• Limit snacking between meals. When snacking is a must, choose nutritious, low-sugar foods.

• Record everything you eat and drink, even hard candies or chewing gum that contains sugar, in a weekly food diary. Check your diary against the recommendations in the Food Guide Pyramid.¹

¹ “Diet and Oral Health.” American Dental Association. http://www.ada.org/public/topics/diet.asp  Accessed 2008.

 Source: Vitamins and Minerals: What You Need to Know. Copyright © by Harvard University. All rights reserved.