Teeth Not Looking So Good? Maybe It's The Canned Tomato Paste In Your Dishes
Posted on: 25 April 2015
Even healthy food choices, such as soups and stews, can gradually change the color of your teeth, especially if the dishes contain canned tomato paste. Consuming canned tomato paste increases your risks for tooth enamel loss and discoloration. Before you take another sip or bite of your soups and stews, find out more about canned tomato paste, as well as how you can protect your teeth with cosmetic dental treatments.
How Does Canned Tomato Paste Discolor and Damage Your Teeth?
Canned tomato paste is a base that adds thickness to soup and stew dishes. However, the acid content in this ingredient can stain your teeth yellow and break down your tooth enamel over time
Tomatoes rank high as some of the most acidic foods you can eat. The FDA uses a pH scale of 0-14 to determine how acidic food is before and after it's processed and canned. The lower the number, the more acidic the food is after it's canned.
Fresh, ripe tomatoes are less acidic than canned tomatoes because they have a pH of 4.9 or higher. However, once ripe tomatoes go through a canning process, manufacturers combine them with various citrus acids to protect the tomatoes from bacterial growth and other food borne pathogens. By the time the tomatoes complete the canning process, their acid content falls to 4.6 or lower.
If you eat tomato-based dishes on a daily basis, you experience acid erosion and tooth stains faster than if you only consumed the dishes once in awhile. Changing how you eat tomatoes and protecting your teeth with cosmetic dental treatments can protect your teeth.
How Can You Remove the Tooth Stains and Repair the Acid Damage?
You can stop the loss of your tooth enamel and remove the stains on your teeth by visiting a cosmetic dentist for services. Consider whitening your back teeth with a laser enhanced bleaching system, followed by a porcelain veneer placement. Porcelain veneers cover and strengthen the outside of your damaged front teeth, which also prevent food stains from settling inside the pores of your teeth. Additionally, your cosmetic dentist can match the color of your porcelain veneers to your newly whitened back teeth for the perfect smile.
To prevent and protect all of your teeth from future problems, use fresh tomatoes as a base instead of canned tomato paste. You can use a blender or food processor to mash up or break down your tomatoes before adding them to your stews and soups.
If you have questions about acid erosion or tooth stains, contact your cosmetic dentist. Your dentist can provide more information about tomato-based foods and how they damage your teeth. To learn more, contact Dynamic Dental Care Bryan Friedland, DMD.
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