What Vitamins Are Good for My Teeth?

When people think about maintaining the health of their teeth and gums, they probably first think of good dental hygiene habits such as daily brushing and flossing. Yet, vitamins and mineral intake can also have a tremendous impact on our oral health.

How Do Vitamins and Minerals Help Teeth?

Vitamins and minerals can make a very positive impact on your overall oral health. First of all, they are critical for growing children who need proper nutrition to support the development of strong teeth.

Vitamins and minerals are also important for adults to maintain a healthy smile. While taking vitamins and minerals cannot rebuild your teeth (see the next section: Can Tooth Enamel Be Restored?), they play an important role in oral health throughout our lifespan. How?

Many people forget that teeth need a healthy environment in which to thrive. You can have the best, cavity-free teeth in the world, but if your gums are inflamed and diseased, you might not be able to keep those strong, natural teeth.

This is why a holistic approach to dental health is really key to maintaining an attractive and functional smile from childhood to the elder years.

What Happens to Teeth With Poor Nutrition?

Without the proper nutrition, children may not grow strong teeth initially, and then become more prone to cavities. (One of the reasons why we recommend fluoride toothpaste at Downey Dental Arts, by the way, is that it helps in the mineralization of tooth enamel. But that fluoride also needs calcium to do its job.)

As people get older, gum health becomes more and more of a concern. Poor nutrition and the lack of vital minerals and other nutrients can have a negative impact on oral health.

Many people don’t realize that the strength of their immune system can also be a factor in their oral health. Why is this? The immune system helps keep infections at bay. And guess what part of the body is at high risk of a chronic, and possibly dangerous infection? The gums.

When gums become infected with bacteria, the acid excreted by the bacteria eats away at tooth enamel and inflames the gums. If not treated properly, this gum inflammation (gingivitis) can turn into full-blown gum disease (periodontal disease), which can result in lost teeth.

How Does Nutrition Impact Gum Health?

As we have explained, a poor or compromised immune system may contribute to gum disease. And how does an immune system become weak? One way is through lack of proper nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. Two important vitamins that modern Americans are often deficient in are vitamins C and D. Both help support the immune system. Thus, a deficiency in these vitamins might make you more prone to gum disease.

Can Tooth Enamel Be Restored?

One question that dentists often get is whether tooth enamel can be rebuilt or restored. This question causes a lot of confusion, and you’ll find a lot of incorrect information on the Internet about it. The unfortunate reality is, with our current level of medical knowledge, we are unable to rebuild or grow new tooth enamel.

Once your tooth enamel is lost, it is lost forever. Unfortunately, this happens naturally as we age through wear and tear.

However, the good news is, we can help “restore” tooth enamel – that is, make existing enamel stronger – through a process called remineralization. Remineralization typically involves getting a fluoride treatment at the dentist office (we can do this at Downey Dental Arts). However, you also need calcium to help that process, so taking a calcium supplement can be a good way to support tooth enamel remineralization.

What Vitamins Are Good for Your Teeth?

As you can see, many essential vitamins and minerals are involved in creating and maintaining healthy teeth and gums. Ultimately, we recommend a healthy, well-rounded diet with lots of leafy greens and vegetables to support oral health. There isn’t just one magic vitamin bullet that will automatically fix your dental health issues. And ultimately, there are many micronutrients and phytochemicals that also contribute to healthy teeth and gums.

That said, some vitamins and minerals offer key benefits for the teeth and gums, and it might be worthwhile taking a daily multivitamin or other supplement to support oral health. In the case of certain vitamins that people tend to be deficient in, such as a vitamin D, we recommend getting labwork done through your primary care physician to determine whether you have a deficiency and what dosage of the vitamin you should take.

Here are some vitamins and minerals that are particularly helpful with teeth and gums:

Calcium: Perhaps the top supplement for healthy teeth in both kids and adults, calcium is critical for the creation and restoration of tooth enamel. For growing kids, calcium helps build the initial layers of enamel and as such can be a huge benefit in reducing or preventing cavities. It used to be that kids got their calcium from dairy milk, but these days, many parents are opting for alternative milks like almond milk or rice milk instead. If you aren’t using a dairy-based milk, look for a nut or grain milk with added calcium or consider adding a calcium supplement to your child’s daily routine.

Vitamin A: If you have gingivitis or inflamed gums, you may need more vitamin A. This important vitamin is found in red meat, liver, and dairy products.

Vitamin C: Almost everyone knows about vitamin C being an immune-boosting vitamin. This makes it great for people with gingivitis and periodontitis (gum disease). Vitamin C also has anti-inflammatory properties, which makes it quite helpful for the inflamed gums. Vitamin C is found in many veggies and citrus fruits, but despite it being part of the daily glass of orange juice, many people are still deficient in it. Supplementation of vitamin C, even at higher doses, is relatively safe.

Vitamin D: If your body needs calcium, but you don’t have enough vitamin D, your body won’t even be able to use the calcium that you take in via a supplement. Yet, far too many people in America are vitamin D deficient – approximately 42% of all Americans! Vitamin D is also critical for immune system functioning, and it can help reduce gum inflammation. For this reason, if we were to recommend two supplements for healthy teeth, it would be calcium and vitamin D.

So why are so many people deficient in vitamin D? You cannot get enough vitamin D from your diet. You either have to get it via sun exposure or through supplementation. In the winter, we do not get enough sun to produce enough vitamin D, and this might even be the case in Downey, California, some months, so supplementation is a must.

We hope this information has been helpful. Let us know if you have any questions!

At Downey Dental Arts, we help Southern Californians get and maintain a beautiful, healthy smile. We’re also big fans of nutrition supporting dental and oral health. If you would like to learn more, or set up an appointment for an exam, contact us today!