You may think you’re doing something inherently good for your health by having your vitamins or supplements every morning. But one type of supplement could be sneakily harming your oral health, dentists warn.
If you take a daily supplement or vitamin, you may want to rethink that. Or you might need to adjust the type of supplement you take to make sure your mouth stays as healthy as possible.
Dentist Tip of the Day: For Better Dental Health, Don’t Take Gummy Supplements
Steer clear of gummy vitamins and supplements, dentists say.
“Gummy vitamins are still just candy. And they’re sticky, which is the worst type of candy,” Dr. Tricia Quartey, a Brooklyn-based dentist and spokesperson for the American Dental Association, told TODAY.com previously.
Many gummy supplements come with unnecessary added sugar. And testing has shown that the amount of vitamin and mineral ingredients listed on the bottle often doesn’t match what’s actually in gummy vitamins, as TODAY.com reported recently.
While that’s an issue with all supplements, it tends to be more common with gummies than pills. That means gummies aren’t really the best way to get the ingredients you want — for you or your teeth.
Why It Matters
The ADA puts gummies — including gummy vitamins and supplements — in the same category as sticky candy, pretzels and chips. Chewable medicines, vitamins and supplements also fall into this category.
Not only do these foods contain starches and added sugar that cavity-causing bacteria love, but they also literally stick to your teeth, making it harder for chewing and saliva to remove them.
“I can look at somebody’s mouth and tell they’re a sticky candy person just by the way their cavities look,” Quartey says, “because it just gets down into these grooves (in the teeth).”
How to Get Started
Gummies are tasty and easy to eat, which makes them a good option for picky kids who wouldn’t otherwise take vitamins.
But if you’re an adult and have no issues swallowing pills, you should probably just do that, Quartey says. You could also use powders or even liquids, she adds.
If you really prefer to stick with gummies, brush your teeth after to remove as much of them from your teeth as possible.
Also, take a moment to consider whether you even need to take those supplements in the first place. If you don’t have a nutrient deficiency, you likely don’t need to add more to your diet. And going overboard with supplements, even “natural” ones or those with mega doses of vitamins, can come with potential dangers to your health.
Instead of supplements, experts generally recommend eating a nutritious, varied diet that’s heavy on fruits and veggies, which allows you to get all the nutrients you need from food.
And when it comes to food, opt for snacks that contain natural sugar rather than added sugar and choose whole grains over processed starchy snacks, the ADA recommends.
Foods that contain natural sugar, like fruit, come with fiber and other nutrients that support oral and overall health. Those foods are also less likely to stick to teeth, and they encourage chewing and saliva formation that helps remove the food from your teeth before bacteria can wreak havoc.
TODAY’s Expert Tip of the Day series is all about simple strategies to make life a little easier. Every Monday through Friday, different qualified experts share their best advice on diet, fitness, heart health, mental wellness and more.