5 Reasons Why Eating Carrots Is So Beneficial for Your Oral Health
Diet and oral health are very closely related, the foods that we eat can directly affect our mouth. What we consume can have a direct effect on our teeth and gums as well as on our overall oral health. Have you ever thought a carrot could give you a healthier smile?
While many people and children would rather not think about eating vegetables for their teeth or spend much time thinking about how to maintain healthy teeth using diet, there are certain fruits and vegetables that are good for your oral health and will actually improve dental hygiene.
One of these foods is carrots because they can help to prevent tooth decay, fight bad breath and even increase saliva production!
Are Carrots Good For Teeth?
Long story short, yes!
Carrots provide your overall health with a huge boost. Due mainly to their high levels of vitamins and minerals and their low-calorie count. In particular, carrots provide your teeth with a multitude of advantages. Discover the following five benefits of carrots for oral health.
1. Carrots Naturally Break Apart Plaque
Plaque and tartar build on your teeth quickly between meals. This can lead to dental decay if you don’t manage them immediately. However, the thick texture of carrots — which are somewhat abrasive while you chew — will naturally break apart the plaque and tartar on your teeth.
Carrots help your teeth to fight against harmful bacteria that cause plaque build-up and tooth decay. This is because carrots act as natural toothbrushes, the structure of the carrot’s fibers helps rub away bits of food on our teeth that could cause cavities or other problems.
Carrots also require a longer sustained chewing period than other foods. As a result, they produce a higher level of saliva production in your mouth. This saliva will then further break apart plaque and tartar and wash it away to keep your teeth and gums strong and healthy.
2. Carrots Contain Many Beneficial Vitamins
Even among the nutrient-rich vegetable kingdom, carrots provide a startlingly high level of vitamins and minerals. Many of these nutrients can improve your oral health. Just a few of the healthy elements found in carrots include:
- Vitamin A: Carrots contain a high level of vitamin A that can help improve your growth, boost your body’s development, and increase immune function to fight off tartar and plaque invasion. Vitamin A also strengthens bone enamel.
- Biotin: Carrots possess one of the highest levels of biotin, a vitamin that helps to synthesize fat and protein metabolism, which can provide your body with stronger gums.
- Vitamin K1: Foods rich in vitamin K1 — like carrots — help to promote stronger jaw and gum health and can improve your oral strength.
- Potassium: Eating healthy levels of potassium — which is found heavily in carrots — can decrease your blood pressure and avoid related dental issues.
- Phosphorus: Carrots also help keep your teeth strong because they contain phosphorus which is a main component of teeth.
- Calcium: Calcium is another main component of what teeth are main of and carrots are rich in this mineral. Calcium helps make teeth strong.
Although many other foods contain these vitamins, carrots offer one of the most concentrated sources. Few other foods will contain all of these nutrients and usually at nowhere near the same volume.
3. Carrots Also Have High Levels of Fiber
Another essential element found in high levels in carrots is fiber. This mineral is, technically, impossible for the body to digest. However, its ingestion provides a multitude of oral-health benefits, including an increase in saliva production, a decrease in hyperglycemia and hypertension, and a lower risk of severe gum disease and issues with teeth.
Carrots are one of the healthiest sources of fiber in the vegetable kingdom. Fiber is also found at high levels in other useful foods, including apricot pips, apples, green peas, and whole wheat bread.
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs heavily studied this fact in a lengthy study. They examined nearly 630 men over 15 years and tracked what each individual ate. Once the review was over, the results were clear: carrots and other high-fiber foods did sometimes help to decrease gum disease and oral-health issues mostly in men who are over the age of 65.
4. Carrots Improve Bone Health
Jaw strength and bone density are critical to your overall dental health. Strong jaws keep your teeth in place longer. With strong jaws, teeth are damaged less severely by a variety of oral health issues. Thankfully, eating a high volume of carrots can help to improve your bone strength, including the health of your jaw, to ensure your oral health remains stable.
For example, a recent study on carrots looked at the importance of beta-carotene — which is found in high levels in carrots — on bone health. This study found that individuals who ate vegetables high in this mineral had stronger bone health than those who did not. Even a single daily serving of carrots and other beta-carotene-rich foods produced noticeable benefits.
These are just a few of the many reasons you should include carrots in your diet. The benefits of eating this healthy vegetable can improve your overall oral health and ensure that you keep strong teeth for years to come.
Will Cooked Carrots Have The Same Benefits?
Raw carrots are much better for dental health than cooked ones. Cooking your carrots will leach some of the nutrients. Cooking them for too long damages some of the beneficial vitamins and minerals. For example, boiling your carrots can cause their vitamin A to break down by up to 50 percent or more.
Cooked carrots are also softer, and this softer texture means chewing them will no longer help break apart and remove plaque on teeth.
5. Carrots Are Recommended by Many Dentists
Carrots are one of the most powerful foods you can eat to promote your dental health. Eating carrots regularly will strengthen gums, improve teeth, help prevent tartar and plaque invasion, boost gum vitality, increase saliva production, improve bone strength, and decrease high blood pressure.
These benefits will prepare you for a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums.
The various oral-health benefits of carrots make them one of the most heavily suggested vegetables by dentists. So whether you like them cooked, raw, or juiced, you should have many options from which to choose. If you need more information about this topic or want to schedule an appointment, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Snodgrass King to learn more.