apples

Food products like garlic and onion are known to cause bad breath. But did you know that some foods can actually help your breath smell good? It’s true. Mints aren’t the only solution to a stinky mouth. Here are five foods that can actually make your breath smell great!

Dairy

Dairy isn’t just great for your pearly whites. Dairy products like yogurt and cheese are also pretty good at fighting off bad breath. Cheese neutralizes acids after you’ve eaten, making sure that they don’t give off any sour smells. Probiotic yogurts with live active cultures can reduce sulfite compounds in your mouth that cause bad breath. The vitamin D in these yogurts also reduces smelly mouth bacteria.

Crunchy Apples and Celery

An apple a day keeps the smell away. Crisp and crunchy foods like apples and celery actually clean your teeth, removing soft and sticky food that’s stuck there. These foods can also push plaque away from your teeth when you bite into them. Just because they do some scrubbing doesn’t mean you should skip brushing or flossing. But apples and celery are a great snack between meals to keep your mouth smelling fresh.

Fennel Seeds

Fennel seeds are extremely flavorful and aromatic, so it’s no surprise they can keep bad breath at bay. These seeds work to neutralize bad smells in your mouth. But along with that, they actually have antibacterial properties, giving them the power to fight off bacteria that causes bad breath.

Ginger

If you’ve ever taken a bite out of ginger, you know it packs a punch. Ginger is regularly used to clean your palate. And it also gets rid of bad breath with its powerful flavor. Just make sure you like the flavor of ginger before you bite into it or make a drink with it, because you can’t plug your nose to escape its flavor.

Fruits That Pack a Lot of Vitamin C

Along with keeping your body healthy, vitamin C keeps bad breath away. The bacteria that causes bad breath can’t actually grow very well in environments filled with vitamin C. Fruits that also contain a lot of water, like melons and citrus fruit, can wash rotting food and bacteria away. Try eating strawberries, cantaloupe or oranges next time you notice your breath smelling funky.
We hope you give these foods a try next time you have bad breath. If you can’t seem to get rid of the smell, feel free to contact Water Tower Dental Care. If you have a dental issue causing your bad breath, we’ll get to the bottom of it!

Just because something is good for you doesn’t mean it’s good for your teeth. There’s a wide variety of food that nutritionists would consider healthy for you, but that can damage your teeth if you’re not careful. Here are the top 6 healthy foods that are surprisingly bad for your teeth.

Citrus Fruits (Grapefruits, Oranges and Lemons)

While fruits like oranges, lemons and grapefruits are jam-packed with vitamin C and other important nutrients, they’re not so good for you teeth. Citrus fruits are very acidic and can erode your teeth’s enamel if not completely washed away.
Solution: You don’t have to stop eating citrus fruit to keep your mouth healthy! Immediately after eating a citrus fruit, wash your mouth out with water. Then, 30 minutes later, gently brush your teeth and use mouthwash to completely get rid of the acids.

Tomatoes

Like citrus fruits, tomatoes are highly acidic, causing enamel and tooth erosion. And it isn’t just raw tomatoes that can do your teeth harm. Unfortunately, tomato sauces, soups and pizza can cause tooth erosion due to tomato’s acidity.
Solution: Mix tomatoes with other foods so that your teeth aren’t solely exposed to tomato acids. You can also immediately wash out your mouth with water, and then gently brush your teeth and use mouthwash 30 minutes after eating tomato-based foods just like you can do with citrus fruits. This way, you’ll get rid of the acids before they cause serious harm.

Pickles

Acid is actually used in the pickling process to give pickles their trademark sour taste. This high acid content causes pickles to be closely linked to tooth erosion, according to this 2004 study.
Solution: As long as you don’t eat pickles daily, it’s unlikely that they will cause any serious problems for your teeth. If you do eat pickles regularly, wash your mouth out with water after you’ve finished eating and try to brush your teeth 30 minutes later to avoid serious harm to your teeth.

Apples

While apples have been found to be good for your teeth in some ways, they can also cause teeth erosion. Dental experts have found that apple’s acidic structure and increasingly high levels of sugar can cause erosion, according to The British Dental Association in a Daily Mail article.
Solution: Like with the other acidic foods, wash your mouth out with water after eating apples and brush 30 minutes later. You can also eat them with other food to minimize damage, and try eat your apple in one sitting instead of snacking on one for a while.

Dried Fruit

Though an easy snack, dried fruit is sticky and full of sugar. When it gets stuck to your teeth, which is inevitable, it creates a breeding ground for bacteria to eat away at the fruit’s sugar and your teeth.
Solution: Stick to fresh fruits if you can. If you do eat dried fruit, make sure to floss and brush away the dried fruit as completely as possible 30 minutes after you eat it.

Dark Teas

Black tea has a long list of health benefits, including fighting off free radicals and providing your body with antioxidants, according to TIME.com. It has even been found to fight off cavities. Still, tea has been found to potentially stain teeth even worse than coffee thanks to its higher tannin content, according to Colgate.
Solution: Drink water during and after you’re done drinking tea to reduce the likelihood that it will stain your teeth, and brush immediately afterwards. You can also switch to herbal tea, white tea or green tea, which are much less likely to cause stains and still provide health benefits.
Though these healthy foods may be bad for your teeth, it doesn’t mean you should stop eating them. Just make sure to follow our solutions and you’ll be on track to having healthy and beautiful looking teeth for years to come. Feel free to contact us with any questions! We would love to help.

Many people who wear braces are worried about keeping their teeth white. After all, cleaning your teeth is much more difficult with braces, and you can’t really use teeth-whitening products on the part of your teeth that’s covered up. What you can do, though, is prevent your teeth from discoloring. Find out how to do this with these 11 easy tips from our dental experts.

1. Follow Proper Oral Hygiene Practices: It’s even more important to take care of your teeth when you wear braces. If you wear braces, we typically recommend brushing your teeth three times a day, using mouthwash when you wake up and before you go to bed, and flossing with Superfloss once a day. Getting into a routine like this should remove daily stains and keep your smile sparkling white.

2. Brush One Tooth at a Time: It’s easy to miss spots on your teeth when there are braces in the way, so try to spend at least 10 seconds brushing each tooth. Move your toothbrush in a circular motion, making sure to brush between the archwires of your braces, and brush at different angles to ensure you’re sufficiently cleaning every part of your tooth.

3. Use an Electronic Toothbrush: Ultrasonic Electric toothbrushes make it easier and more effective for people with braces to clean around wires and brackets. But even if you don't wear braces, Ultrasonic Electric toothbrushes clean much more efficiently than traditional toothbrushes because of their ultrasonic action, breaking up plaque, tartar and stain-causing particles.

4. Brush or Rinse After Every Meal: After you eat, it’s important to get all of the food out from between your teeth and braces. Brushing after every meal will help you take care of any leftover food that can potentially cause discoloring. If you can’t brush your teeth throughout the day, try rinsing your mouth out with water or mouthwash instead.

5. Be Mindful of Teeth-Staining Food and Drinks: Common items that can stain your teeth include red wine, dark juice, sports drinks, black tea, dark soda, coffee, blueberries, blackberries, and beats. Avoid consuming unhealthy types of food and beverages that can stain your teeth. If you do eat or drink things that can cause discoloration, make sure to brush your teeth and rinse out your mouth soon afterwards to keep your teeth white.

6. Eat Food That Cleans Your Teeth: Toothbrushes aren’t the only things that clean your teeth. Firm and crisp food, like apples, celery, raw carrots, and popcorn, can help make your smile shine as well! Try to eat these types of food right before you brush at night.

7. Take Off Removable Dental Appliances: Before you clean your teeth, take off any removable dental appliances, like bands or headgear. This will give you better access to your teeth.

8. Avoid Eating Unhealthy Sugar: Sugary foods, like candy, can cause tooth decay and lead to discoloration. Eating candy can be especially problematic when you have braces, as sticky candy can get stuck in them. Try eating fruits and veggies instead. If you do eat sugary food or drink soda, make sure to thoroughly brush, floss and rinse out your mouth afterwards.

9. Use Superfloss: Superfloss makes flossing much easier for people with braces and other dental appliances. It’s made up of three different parts: a stiffened-end threader (for flossing between wires), soft spongey floss (for cleaning around appliances), and regular floss (for removing plaque normally between your teeth).

10. Ditch the Cigarettes: Smoking decreases the amount of saliva in your mouth, which means the lines of your teeth are not getting cleaned out as much and your teeth aren’t as protected from decay. All of these changes can very likely lead to discoloration in your teeth.

11. Come See The Experts: Other than taking proper daily care of your teeth, the best thing you can do to keep your teeth white and healthy is visit your dentist regularly. We’ll give your teeth a deep clean and let you know how healthy they are and what you can do to improve them.

Feel free to contact Chicago’s Number One Rated Dentistry to see how your teeth are doing. We’re experts at teeth whitening, and we would love to use our skills help keep your smile white and sparkling.

A large percentage of Americans suffer from bad breath. While good oral hygiene can help keep bad breath at bay, sometimes a mouth needs to take further measures to help keep it from smelling too bad. Today we'd like to discuss a few natural ways to help reduce bad smelling breath.
Bad breath comes from bacteria that breed at the back of your tongue, throat, and tonsils. The more this bacterium grows, the harsher your breath will smell. In the morning, your breath can often be the worst because the bacteria had all night to grow and produce while you slept. There are some great natural ways to help reduce the smell of bad breath and keep the bacteria in the back of your throat controlled. Here are a few of the best natural recommendations:

Parsley

Not just used for decoration on your dinner plate, parsley is a natural palate cleanser. Rich in the chemical chlorophyll it can help neutralize the bad breath and clear away any tastes in your mouth.
Parsley is also an anti-mutagen. Mutagen is a mutation, chemical or biologically, of a substance, in this case bacteria. It can change from an unscented chemical to something much worse. Parsley stops the substance from this action. Try a few sprigs of parsley after dinner; it's a great way to keep the mouth fresh.

Apples

Apples as well as any kind of fiber-rich fruit can help battle bad breath. One of bad breath's triggers is a dry mouth. Fiber-rich fruit helps activate saliva to wash away bad bacteria. Natural enzymes in apples are able to help break down the sulfur compounds that cause bad breath. As well, the texture of fruit acts as a natural toothbrush that can help clear the mouth of old food and plaque, which often helps lead to bad breath.

Lemon

The use of a lemon can help activate your salivary glands to flush away bad breath. Try sucking on a lemon or even squeezing some of the juice in a fresh glass of water. The acidity helps kill bad bacteria as well as salivate your mouth. Dry mouth is one of the leading causes for bad breath, so helping keep the mouth hydrated and wet is extremely important

Water

That leads to our next tip, keep your mouth hydrated with water to avoid bad breath. Make sure to drink the daily-recommended amount of water every day: at least eight cups. Often people who do jobs that require a lot of talking have worse breath because they dry out their mouth. Be aware of your hydration levels and make sure to keep drinking lots of water throughout the day.

Fresh Herbs

Originally, before toothpaste, many people used fresh herbs to keep their mouth clean and breath fresh. That's because most fresh herbs contain chlorophyll, which absorbs bad odors. Just like parsley, many other herbs can curb the smell of bad breath. Especially helpful herbs include mint, peppermint, dill, and basil. If you chew then swallow the fresh herbs after a meal, they can continue to help fight bad breath throughout the night.

Avoid Sugars

A natural way to prevent bad breath sometimes doesn't mean eating certain foods, but rather avoiding the bad ones. Sugars are especially great at promoting the growth of bad breath bacteria. Avoiding anything too sugary (i.e. candy, desserts, chocolate, soda, energy drinks) will both eliminate bad breath and help keep you just a little healthier.
While these are all great tips, we cannot stress how important it is to brush and floss daily, at least twice a day. Removing plaque, food remnants, and harmful bacteria is the best way to keep your teeth, gums, and tongue healthy. Try softly brushing your tongue, reaching as far back as possible to help scrub away bad bacteria that can be causing bad breath.
As well, don't hesitate to make an appointment with your local dentist. At Water Tower Dental we perform routine cleanings that help remove tartar from teeth, eliminate areas of bacteria build up, and advise you on how to keep your breath as fresh as possible. If you're in the Chicago-land area, make an appointment today and be well on your way to a healthy smile.

There are a lot of conflicting opinions if apples are good for your teeth or not. Seems odd that it’s even a question. How could the fruit recommended to keep the doctor away hurt you? A few years back, the Toronto Star published some negative effects of an apple on your teeth. However, we don't believe this settles the case on if an apple is bad for your teeth or not. We think it's a tricky grey area, an apple can actually help your teeth and keep them healthy- just as long as you eat it right. These are the true food villains that are bad for your teeth.

How Is An Apple Good For Your Teeth

An apple helps both your teeth and your all-around oral hygiene. Think of it as a natural toothbrush. The fruit, that's rich in fleshy fiber, helps scrub your teeth, gums, and tongue. The skin of the apple especially, which is extremely high in fiber, can scrub against your teeth and help remove stains and fight plaque.
Furthermore, Apples are great for getting rid of bad breath. That natural fiber helps remove the traces of plaque and residue that harbor in the back of your tongue and throat that create the bad breath. The acidity of the apple helps kill any bad bacteria that may cause the bad breath as well.

How Is An Apple Bad For Your Teeth

The Toronto Star claims from a study published by UK's Journal of Dentistry, that an apple's acidic structure can be harmful to your teeth. This is true; foods high in acidity can damage the dentine in your mouth. Dentine is the layer of tooth just under the enamel. The acidity of an apple can eat away at your dentine and damage your teeth.
As well, apples have high sugar content, and we all know how bad sugar can be for your teeth. Furthermore, apple juice, along with most fruit juices, is highly acidic as well and can be harmful to that dentine.

Don't Stop Eating Apples!

However, though apples can hurt your teeth, their benefits greatly outweigh the risk. Not only can apples help our teeth, they can help regulate our blood sugar, are low in calories and are a great source of dietary fiber. The negative effects of apples are easily preventable and mostly depend on your apple eating habits. If you want the good benefits of apples without the negative impact, follow these steps:
1. Eat your apple in a single sitting. Don't graze an apple. The longer the acidic elements are in your mouth, the more harm they can do.
2. Eat apples with other snacks. Munching on a piece of cheese, milk, or some bread can help neutralize the apple's acidity. Especially if its a food high in calcium.
3. When finished with an apple, swish your mouth with water. This will help release and flush away the acidic elements that are hiding between your teeth.
4. Wait about 30 minutes before brushing your teeth after eating an apple. If you brush too soon after, the sugars from the apple will scrub off your enamel. Use water to flush as much out before brushing.
If you follow these steps, apples will never be harm to you. In most cases, no food will be of harm if you follow these steps. Proper oral hygiene by brushing and flossing everyday will especially help. And, of course, a visit to your dentist for a special cleaning every six months will keep you safe from serious oral issues. Call Water Tower Dental Care today to set up an appointment.