How do weight loss activities impact your dental health?
Dr. Suresh Amarnathan, BDS.,
Following a weight loss plan to get into shape is commendable. Physicians reveal that an Indian body with BMI (Body Mass Value) higher than 18 to 24.9 is considered obese or overweight. Those people are at risk of various health problems like diabetes, heart disease, etc. You might aware of this fact.
Similarly, obese persons have a high chance of various dental diseases than non-obese people. In simply, swapping a healthy diet and doing physical exercises during weight loss will boost your oral health. For instance, it prevents cavities, gum diseases (due to reduced systemic inflammation).
On the other hand, adjusting your diet to shed weight will have havoc on your oral cavity. Hence you should consider your dental health’s well-being while reducing weight. In this article, Dr. Suresh has highlighted the dental problems associated with some weight loss programs.
How does a weight loss diet affect your dental health?
As dieting is crucial to lose weight, you need to say bye for your favorite dishes for some time. It will make you get less amount of nutrients if you do not plan your diet properly. This will affect your oral health significantly as listed below:
1) Avoiding calories – Cutting calories is the primary thing many people do when they decide to lose weight. You should be careful in reducing calorie intake because calorie is essential for our body to do various functions. Remember that taking excess calories is the reason for being overweight whilst less calorie intake leads to malnutrition that causes oral problems like thin enamel, gum recession, weakening jaw bone, etc.
2) Cutting Carbohydrates – Ketogenic diet, popularly known as a low-carb diet aims at making our body burns fat instead of carbohydrates to become fit. The process of burning fat is known as “Ketosis” and it emits a filthy smell from our mouth. In essence, avoiding or low intake of carbohydrates will cause bad breath.
3) Fruit Detox – Few people would take fruits and veggies alone for a while to shred their body fat. Despite fruits and vegetables having high nutritional value, they also have some acidic compounds. Such excessive consumption of fruits also led to malnutrition meanwhile the acids will hurt the enamel layer.
4) Weight loss Pills – Many diet pills and anti-obesity drugs are formulated to reduce our hunger thereby preventing us from taking carbs and calories. As we saw in the above sections, this leads to malnutrition. Moreover, some diet pills and weight loss drugs are powerful enough to reduce saliva production. Reduced salivation in the mouth is the root cause of many dental problems like cavities, dry mouth, BMS, bad breath, sore tongue, etc.
How can we protect your oral health while following a weight loss plan?
Sticking to a balanced diet of foods with low-calorie, healthy fats, complex carbs, proteins, and other mineral compounds is the best way to keep your mouth healthy while shedding weight.
- Consult a nutritionist to get the list of nutritious rich foods.
- Prepare a diet plan properly under the guidance of a dietician.
- Regulate the amount of sugar you intake.
- Drink plenty of water. Avoid healthy drinks to quench your thirst.
- If you prefer weight loss pills, consult a bariatric physician to get the right medications.
Along with physical exercises, make a smart food choice to shed the extra fat in your body. This is the main thing you should remember before beginning your weight loss activities. We are telling this because unhealthy weight-loss strategies will deplete your oral health as well as your physical health.
