Periodontitis dietary taboos

Foods with high sugar, high viscosity and easy residues, highly irritating foods that are too cold, too hot, too acidic, and foods that are too hard and highly abrasive must be avoided. Smoking and alcohol are minefields that must be avoided at all stages. There is no unified standard for other so-called "fat foods" and "taboos", and they must be adjusted flexibly based on your own periodontal condition.

I just received a 27-year-old programmer last week. He had just had his first subgingival scaling for chronic periodontitis. He was told not to touch anything too exciting for a week, but he turned around and went to eat butter hotpot with a friend, and ate two braised duck heads with ice cola. In the middle of the night, his gums were so swollen that he couldn't even open his mouth. He came to the emergency room in the early morning, and the wound that had recovered well became inflamed again, causing pain for an extra week.

First, let’s talk about the most common high-sugar and high-viscosity foods that everyone gets into trouble with. It’s not something that will cause trouble after just one bite. You need to be extra careful with the foods that stick between your teeth and in the gingival sulcus and cannot be removed – such as nougat, glutinous rice cakes, tapioca pearls in bubble milk tea, and Sticky gums that children love to eat have strong adhesion and cannot be removed by ordinary brushing. If left in the mouth for less than half an hour, dental plaque will use the sugar to produce acid, which will not only corrode tooth enamel, but also continue to stimulate redness and swelling of the gums, slowly deepening periodontal pockets. Many people suffer from periodontal inflammation over and over again. Despite repeated searches, they like to drink a cup of milk tea with sugar before going to bed every day, but they refuse to listen to any advice.

Many people ask if people with periodontitis should never eat spicy food? Really not, this depends on the situation. If your periodontal period is in a stable period and you don’t have gum bleeding or swelling or pain, you have a body that doesn’t like spicy food. It’s okay to eat some mild spicy food. There is no need to affect your quality of life because of taboos. But if you are in the acute stage of inflammation, your gums are still bleeding, red and swollen, or you even have wounds after periodontal surgery, let alone spicy ones, even hot pot that is too hot, smoothies that are so cold that your teeth will hurt, and lemons that are so sour that you frown, you have to put them away first. The already fragile periodontal mucosa will be irritated, and the inflammation will only get worse. A while ago, there was a female patient who loved to eat plums. She could eat half a bag at a time. During that time, she had periodontal bleeding but she didn't take it seriously. She ate plums for three days in a row. In the end, her teeth were so sore that even biting rice hurt. She also suffered from dentin sensitivity and periodontal inflammation. It took almost half a month to get better.

Don’t believe in hard foods. Most patients with periodontitis have varying degrees of alveolar bone resorption. The stability of teeth is inherently worse than that of healthy people. If you chew on big stick bones, bite hard melon seeds, open beer caps with your teeth, or even bite unthawed frozen meat, the hard force will be directly applied to the loose teeth. In mild cases, the tooth enamel will be worn away and become more sensitive. In severe cases, the teeth will be loosened or even cracked. Last year, there was an old patient in his 50s whose periodontitis had been under stable control for five or six years. During the New Year, he chewed sugar cane and loosened his lower front teeth three times. In the end, he had no choice but to pull them out. He regretted it so much.

There are also many elderly people who say that people with periodontitis should not eat seafood, beef or mutton. In fact, there is currently no clear clinical evidence to support this statement, and different schools of thought have different opinions: traditional wisdom recommends avoiding heterosexual proteins during the inflammation period to avoid aggravating redness and swelling. Modern clinical practice believes that as long as you are not allergic to these foods and have no ulcerated periodontal wounds, eating steamed seafood and lean beef normally can supplement high-quality protein and help repair the periodontal mucosa. But if you have just had periodontal surgery, have wounds in your mouth, or are allergic, you should avoid it for the time being to avoid inducing allergies or aggravating the redness and swelling of the wounds.

Many people ask if they can drink coffee or tea? In fact, there is no problem with clear coffee and light tea without sugar, but it is best to rinse your mouth after drinking to avoid pigmentation on the tooth surface, which will make it easier for plaque to adhere and increase the periodontal burden. Try to drink less fancy milk tea and fruit tea with added milk caps, syrups, and pearls. The sugar content is high and easy to remain, which is harmful to periodontal disease.

Finally, it should be emphasized that smoking and alcohol should be avoided at all stages, especially smoking, which is a high-risk factor for periodontitis. Tar will adhere to the tooth surface to form smoke spots, and will also inhibit the repair ability of periodontal tissue. Many people have been treated for many times, but their periodontal disease is still repeated. If they ask, they smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, and they cannot quit no matter what, and the treatment effect is greatly reduced. As for alcohol, it will not only irritate the gum mucosa, but if you are taking anti-inflammatory drugs such as metronidazole and cephalosporin, it may also cause a disulfiram reaction, which can be serious and life-threatening. You must not be careless about this.

In fact, after all is said and done, these taboos are not rigid rules. The core is not to put extra burden on the already fragile periodontal. Your own teeth know best. If you feel that your gums are swollen and painful or your teeth are sore after eating something, don’t touch it next time. It is much more useful than memorizing a bunch of rules and regulations. After all, periodontitis is a chronic disease that requires long-term control. If you eat more snacks, you can avoid many sins.