You probably have thought to yourself, is cake bad for your teeth? And being honest with yourself, you probably already know the answer. But now dentists have recently been calling out to office workers to refrain from eating cake as it is damaging teeth. A suggested substitute is a bowl of fruit and nuts which contain a fraction of the amount of sugar than do cakes.
The cake culture is not so much brought on by office workers themselves. Cake has customarily been provided by managers and supervisors as a way of rewarding workers. Leading UK dentists suggest that managers who wish to provide sweet rewards to their staff should consider offering fruit and nuts. There is nothing stopping a manager from providing the odd birthday cake. However, it becomes a problem when they are doing it almost every day. This is adding to both the runaway obesity epidemic as well as affecting oral health.
There are bakeries throughout Britain that specialise in selling sweet treats. They do an excellent job providing nice looking sweet delicacies that managers like to present to their workers. Over the years this has become a habit with disturbing consequences. Not only do employees expect these little surprises it makes them crave these sorts of food products too. The kinds of sweet delights that end up being passed around at a tea or lunch break include doughnuts, triple chocolate biscuits and layered cakes.
Is cake bad for your teeth?
If you have a toothbrush available, or even a glass of water at hand, and you use these straight after eating a piece of cake or a doughnut little harm can be done to your teeth. But only the most fastidious person who is fanatical about teeth is likely to think about this. Most people simply forget this important part of the anatomy and be on the ready to floss and brush after an office tea break. As a result the bacteria get busy and start to feed off any food remains left on or between your teeth.
The reason why dentists are recommending that people avoid sweetened snacks outside of normal mealtimes is because of bacteria. Bacteria in the mouth are particularly active when sugary residues are left on the teeth for prolonged periods of time. The bacteria which lives in the sticky plaque on the surface of your teeth feeds off the sugar. And as a by product produces acid. Then this after a remarkably short period of time eats through your teeth’s enamel and starts to create cavities. These can soon develop into tooth decay.
How to save face and say no to cakes and biscuits
Of course, you can help yourself and your teeth by flatly refusing to eat sweet treats offered by your boss in between meals. You may feel left out if you do though so try this trick. You could also slip into your office filing cabinet or desk draw some sugar-free chewing gum which you could pop into your mouth after the cake. This helps to stir saliva into action which helps to wash away debris caught in your teeth.
Later on when you have a good reason to leave the office to go to the restroom. There you could give your teeth a good brush and rinse with water. This should put your teeth back into the right place.
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