How hard food harms teeth?

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor II Nguyen Khanh Nam - Doctor of Dental - Jaw - Facial - Department of General Surgery - Vinmec Nha Trang International General Hospital

Protecting oral health is also a way to protect health and beauty in general. Along with oral hygiene, eating right is also a way to help protect teeth. Hard food is one of the foods that are not good for teeth, and should be limited in use.

Teeth play a very important role in human health. Teeth help chew, grind food, provide essential nutrients for the body. If the tooth is damaged, it will lead to difficulty in eating, causing weight loss, lack of nutrition. In addition, teeth also greatly affect aesthetics, a beautiful set of teeth will contribute to a beautiful smile and face.
Therefore, protecting oral health is also a way to protect general health and beauty. Along with proper oral hygiene, a reasonable diet also works to protect teeth. One of the foods that are not good for the teeth that need to be limited is hard food.
Teeth structure consists of 3 main components, from the inside out, the pulp, dentin and enamel. Enamel is a very hard layer covering the outer surface of the tooth, about 1-2mm thick, smooth, bright, and colored. Tooth enamel is the hardest tissue in the body, an important bearing component while eating and chewing.
Tooth enamel is very hard but not indestructible. Hard foods can damage tooth enamel, causing the risk of chipping or even breaking teeth. Therefore, do not try to use your teeth to break hard foods such as a crab claw or a bone, as they can break your teeth.
Besides, trying to chew hard foods will put pressure on the chewing muscles and joint system. If this pressure is repeated often, it can cause musculoskeletal disorders such as temporomandibular joint disease.

Hard foods are sometimes very eye-catching and attractive, but use should be minimized to protect teeth. Some hard foods that need to be strictly limited are:
Hard candies: Hard candies can be harmful to teeth because in addition to containing a lot of sugar, hard candies can cause tooth fractures, chipped teeth if biting too hard. strong. Therefore, instead of eating hard candies, you should use low-sugar soft candies that are safe for teeth. Ice: ice is made from water, does not contain sugar or additives. However, ice is for cooling, not chewing. The very cold temperature of the ice can cause small cracks in the tooth surface, damage the enamel, and make the teeth weaker. In addition, chewing hard ice regularly will cause the teeth to shift gradually over time. Therefore, to protect your teeth, give up the habit of eating ice and should enjoy cold liquid drinks. Seafood with hard shells: you should use supporting tools such as pliers and forceps to break the hard part of the food, do not use your teeth to bite directly because of the risk of damaging your teeth. Besides foods, it is also necessary to give up bad tooth habits such as using teeth to open soft drink or beer bottles, not using a cap opener. This habit will have a strong impact on the tooth edges, scratch the tooth surface, break the tooth. In addition, dirt and bacteria from beverage bottles can enter the mouth and enter the body. Therefore, absolutely do not use your teeth to open the bottle cap, use the correct cap opener to do this job.
Using a brush with too hard bristles is also a good idea to avoid, because it can irritate gums and scratch tooth enamel. Brushing with a hard-bristled toothbrush for a long time will cause significant damage to the teeth.

References: healthline.com, mouthhealthy.org