Whenever you enjoy a pack of chocolate, do you ever think about how it will affect your teeth or overall health? You must hate thinking about it, but eating it is not good for your teeth. There are some benefits of eating it, but the cons far outweigh them.
What does chocolate do to my teeth?
Teeth Stains
As with most things we drink or eat that are dark in color like tea or coffee, chocolate can also stain our teeth. Dark chocolate especially has the potential to hurt your teeth in terms of deep stains. To remove these stains, you need to head to professional cleanings.
Tooth Decay
Another downside of eating chocolate is the way it supports bacterial growth. Streptococcus is a bacteria commonly known to cause “strep throat,” also causes tooth decay.Chocolate helps Streptococcus survive within your body. Initially, it causes a sore throat, but prolonged exposure to a large population of Streptococcus can also affect your immune system to an extent where you can develop a cough similar in bronchitis or even develop the inability to walk.
Chocolate alone is good for your teeth. Dark chocolate specifically has many antioxidants that prevent the growth of certain bacteria that produce acid that damages our teeth.
However, the main issue is that chocolate is not available as pure chocolate. The chocolate we consume is altered to taste better and is manufactured into products such as drinks and candy loaded with refined sugar. This is why we need to take its consumption seriously.
The two main ingredients in chocolate are sugar and cocoa butter. Cocoa butter helps chocolate’s antioxidants in protecting your teeth. Opposingly, sugar, is the ingredient in chocolate that can hurt your teeth.
High sugar levels bring not only a high level of calories but also a very high probability of plaque sticking to your teeth. Sugar also increases the production of acid, which causes the enamel of your teeth to erode.