Most dental clinicians inform their patients that a healthy diet is the best way to avoid caries. While this is good advice, making actual recommendations about positive food choices can make your point more clearly. The cariostatic effects of milk, cheese, peanuts, cranberries, tea, and other high-fiber foods are well known. Cow’s milk carries the least sugar and is anticariogenic, allowing xerostomia patients to drink it as a saliva substitute. Cheese appears to prevent demineralization, increases salivary rate and flow, and increases the calcium concentration of dental plaque. Even at 5 g per day, the amorphous calcium phosphate in cheese works to remineralize enamel. Fibrous plant foods increase salivary flow due to the amount of chewing involved for swallowing. This increase buffers salivary pH, and the chewing mechanically removes food debris from the oral cavity. Berries, especially cranberries (and blueberries to a lesser effect), reduce the adhesion of Streptococcus mutans and flavonoids that are naturally occurring in fruit and have cariostatic properties. Apples contain polyphenol compounds that reduce caries, and mechanical chewing increases salivary flow. Green and black teas contain fluoride and re-duce the growth of S. mutans. Conversely, consumption of cocoa (chocolate), honey, and licorice increases caries activity. Dental clinicians should consider making specific food recommendations to patients at risk for decay.
(Source: Dental Abstracts, 2008, Volume 53, Issue 1)
