What your dentist eats

There is a quiet truth about teeth: what you eat matters more than what brand of toothpaste you buy. Acidic sodas, sticky candies, and constant snacking are harder on enamel than almost anything else in modern life.

The protective foods are simple. Crunchy raw vegetables — carrots, celery, apples — mechanically clean teeth as you chew. Hard cheeses neutralize acid and deliver calcium. Plain water rinses sugar off your teeth between meals; sparkling water is fine, but flavored seltzers are surprisingly acidic.

If you snack, snack on whole foods and try to stop acid attacks by drinking water afterward. Your mouth needs about thirty minutes of neutral pH to remineralize enamel. Sipping a sugary drink across two hours is far worse than drinking the same amount in ten minutes.

None of this requires a diet overhaul. Small substitutions — water instead of soda at lunch, an apple instead of crackers in the afternoon — show up in your X-rays five years from now.