Are Your Teeth Experiencing a Sugar Sabotage?

Sugar. It’s crafty. While it shows itself in sweets, cakes and other treats, it loves to lurk in foods that you may not suspect like bread, salad dressing, spaghetti sauce and peanut butter to name a few. With so much sugar saturation, it’s not surprising that 92% of adults have tooth decay—something that’s not a sweet fact.

Become a Sugar Sleuth

Another way sugar tries to go undercover and sabotage your dental and overall health is by adopting numerous aliases. Here are some of the many disguises sugar wears:

• Dextrose
• Fructose
• Glucose
• High fructose corn syrup
• Maltodextrin
• Molasses
• Rice syrup
• Sorbitol
• Sucrose

Read Labels

One of the best ways to avoid extra sugar in your diet is by being a scrupulous label reader at the supermarket. By taking a few extra minutes to read labels before products head into your cart, you can avoid consuming too much of the sweet stuff. Knowing the various names for sugar so you can avoid products containing those ingredients can go a long way toward keeping your teeth healthy.

Maintain Optimal Oral Hygiene

Keeping your pearly whites gleaming clean also involves brushing your teeth at least twice a day, flossing each day and scheduling checkups every six months. In addition to cleaning your teeth, we may recommend fluoride treatments as another way to fortify them against decay.

Giving in to an occasional sweet craving is okay. Just be sure that sugar doesn’t become a permanent pantry fixture.