Remineralize Teeth: Immediate effects of food on teeth

There are long-term and immediate effects of food on teeth. Here we are discussing about immediate effects of food on teeth.Changes begin in your mouth the minute you start to eat certain foods. Bacteria in your mouth make dental plaque become more acidic, and the acid starts the process that can lead to cavities.
All carbohydrate foods eventually break down into simple sugars: glucose, fructose, maltose and lactose. Some foods, called fermentable carbohydrates, break down in the mouth, whereas others don't break down until they move further down the digestive tract.
It is the fermentable carbohydrates that work with bacteria to begin the decay process and eventually destroy teeth. They include the obvious sugary foods, such as cookies, cakes, soft drinks and candy, but they also include less obvious food, such as bread, crackers, bananas and breakfast cereals.
Certain bacteria on your teeth use the sugars from these foods and produce acids. These acids dissolve minerals inside the tooth enamel in a process called demineralization. Teeth also regain minerals in a natural process called remineralization. Saliva helps this process, as does fluoride and some foods.

Dental decay begins inside the tooth enamel when minerals are being lost faster than they are being regained.
The longer food stays near the bacteria on the tooth, the more acids will be produced. So sticky carbohydrates, such as raisins, can do more acid damage. But other foods that pack into crevices can also cause decay. Potato chips are a terrific example. Eat a handful of chips and see how long you have to work to get all the stuck bits out from between your teeth. Teeth with a lot of nooks and crannies, such as molars, are more likely to trap food and are more susceptible to decay.
People who sip soft drinks or sweetened coffee throughout the day or who eat many small sweet or carbohydrate snacks provide a sugar source for the bacteria to produce acid almost constantly. And because acid damage is cumulative, decay is more likely.
On the brighter side, some foods actually help to protect teeth from decay because they increase saliva flow and neutralize the acids produced by bacteria, making the enamel less likely to be demineralized. For example, aged cheese eaten immediately after other food helps buffer the acid. That's another reason why eating sweets between meals causes more cavities. Between-meal snackers not only have an overall longer period when their teeth are exposed to acid, they don't eat other foods with the snack to moderate the effects of the sugar.

Remineralize Teeth