7 Surprising Foods Your Dentist Doesn’t Want You To Eat

From greasy cheeseburgers to sugar-filled confections, there are plenty of foods that our doctors and dietitians would prefer we avoid. Our dentists have similar qualms with the foods we eat, though for different reasons than maintaining good cholesterol and avoiding diabetes. Acidic, sugary, and sticky foods can wreak havoc on our dental hygiene, resulting in subpar oral health and costly dental bills. Here are seven types of foods to eat sparingly if your goal is spending fewer hours in the dentist’s chair.

Citrus Fruit

Lemons, oranges, grapefruits, and other citrus fruits are packed with vitamins that support the immune system (and that’s just one of their health benefits). But they aren’t great for your teeth: The acids in the fruit lower the mouth’s overall pH, which can lead to erosion of our protective tooth enamel. According to a 2008 study, lemon juice does the most damage to your pearly whites, followed by grapefruit juice and orange juice.  Use a straw when consuming drinks made of or containing added citrus to cut down on exposure, and rinse your mouth with water after eating citrus to combat acidity.

Dried Fruit

Dried fruit might seem like a healthy snack, but if you care about your teeth, you may want to avoid it. Dried fruit is sticky and can adhere to teeth and gums after snacking. Not only that, but the drying process actually concentrates the natural sugars in fruit, and store-bought dried fruits may be loaded with added sugars, too. It’s all a perfect storm for cavities, so if you want to eat dried fruit, make sure you do so in moderation.

Diet Soda

You may think that diet sodas are better for your teeth because they lack sugar. But studies show that sugar-free sodas can be just as damaging to your teeth as any full-sugar soda, because they’re still loaded with acidic ingredients such as phosphoric acid, which causes tooth enamel to erode over time.

White Bread

According to dentists, the best thing since sliced bread may be avoiding some kinds of bread entirely. Much of the packaged white bread sold in grocery stores is loaded with sugar. It gets gummy when chewed and can end up in crevices between the teeth, where it sits until you floss or brush it out hours later. That’s an issue, because bread is a starch that your saliva breaks down into sugar as you eat it. The bacteria in your mouth feed on those sugars, leading to cavities and other oral ailments. So, if you want to eat bread, pick up whole-wheat varieties — they contain more fiber and less sugar, and they don’t break down into sugar as easily.

Energy Products

Products dedicated to providing you with energy, such as drinks, bars, and gels, are often high in sugar, and therefore not great for your oral health. A 2022 study examined the oral health of 104 athletes and found that foods meant to provide them with fuel were inadvertently causing great harm: 63.5% of those analyzed had cavities, 46.1% were burdened by gingivitis, 26.9% were a victim of irreversible periodontitis, and 21.2% had notable erosive tooth wear. And this was in spite of what the study called “good oral hygiene practices.”

Ice

There’s nothing wrong with filling your beverage with ice to cool it down. But chewing on that ice is a bad idea. Ice is hard and sharp, and can create chips or cracks in the enamel that get worse over time. Dentist Rich Homer likens it to a car windshield crack that starts out small, but eventually grows to a point that it requires the entire windshield to be replaced. Don’t let your teeth be like that windshield.

Tomato Sauces

Tomatoes and the foods we make with them — pasta sauce, soup, ketchup, and salsa, among others — are high in acids that can lead to tooth erosion. If it’s pasta night or you’re enjoying fries with some ketchup, it’s smart to wash it down with water and rinse your mouth after eating. Wait at least 30 minutes before brushing — your enamel is softer after eating something acidic, and brushing too soon can cause additional damage.

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