How they Affect your Oral Health

Most people accept that sugar is bad for you. It makes you put on weight, it rots your teeth, and too much can even be mildly addictive. But the issue isn’t as simple as that. The truth is, there are good and bad sugars, and if you try to eliminate sugar from your life completely, you wouldn’t be able to eat anything at all. That’s why you need to understand the difference between good and bad sugars, and how this impacts your oral health.

What is Sugar?

Sugar molecules are the building blocks of carbohydrates. Sugar molecules can combine to make simple sugars such as sucrose or fructose, which usually contain only one or two sugar molecules, or they can make starches or fibre, which have hundreds of sugar molecules. When you eat products made from sugar molecules the body turns them into glucose, a sugar that powers every system and organ in your body and is absolutely essential for your continued survival. The process that turns carbohydrates and sugars into glucose is very quick for the simple sugars and takes longer for the more complex starches and fibre.

Bad Sugars vs Good Sugars

Generally speaking, bad sugars are those that are added to food. Most types of food contain some amount of sugar. Fruits and vegetables in particular have a lot of naturally occurring sugars. But these sugars are natural and are combined with essential nutrients and vitamins as well as water and other elements that are essential for good health. This combination not only slows down the absorption of the sugar, it also supplies your body with essential nutrients for life and continued good health.

However, bad sugars are different. They’re usually quietly added to commonly eaten foods and drinks such as bread, pasta sauce, baked goods, and soft drinks. These types of sugars are absorbed fast, so they cause blood sugar spikes, and they’re often found in foods that are completely devoid of healthy nutrients. Basically, when you ingest these sugars, you’re taking in a lot of empty calories.

How ‘Bad Sugars’ Affect your Oral Health

The bacteria in your mouth thrive on sugar. When they’re exposed to sugar they increase in numbers and secrete toxins and acids that lead to tooth decay and gum disease. Usually, your body has systems that keep these bacteria in balance. But if you eat too much sugar, your body can’t keep up with the bacterial growth surge, which results in poor oral health, cavities, and even tooth loss as well as an expensive trip to the dentist.

Eating bad sugars, which provide the body with a lot of empty calories and usually lack healthy nutrients, can also lead to general ill health. It contributes to weight gain and causes or exacerbates deficiencies, both of which can lead to ill health and poor oral health as well. The body exists in a delicate balance, and poor overall health can throw off that balance, affecting every system in the body including the health of your mouth and teeth. So if you want to be healthy, you need to avoid or limit your exposure to bad sugars for the sake of your overall wellbeing and your oral health.