You probably heard that sugar is bad for you and your family's teeth. But you may not know what alternatives you have. The following guide will teach you why sugar is detrimental and offer a few dental-friendly options you can consider.

What's Wrong With Sugar?

You need to understand the makeup of your mouth to understand what sugar can do to you and your family's oral health. The mouth is filled with good and bad bacteria. Regrettably, refined or processed sugar feeds harmful bacteria, which could cause an overgrowth of these bad oral pathogens. The worst thing is that acidic byproduct is created when bad bacteria feed. This acidic byproduct grazes your teeth's enamel and degrades the minerals, which could lead to dental sensitivity or cavities.

You can talk to your oral health specialist if you want to go more in depth about how refined sugar might affect your family's teeth.

Tooth-Friendly and Sweet Alternatives

Consider the following:

Raw Honey

This is an unfiltered and unaltered type of honey that you can purchase from your local health food store, online, or even at a local bee farm. There are different grades of raw honey, but you should know that dark honey is usually stronger than lighter types. What makes honey good for your teeth is its osmotic nature that helps kill harmful bacteria. Raw honey also contains hydrogen peroxide, which helps poison some of the oral pathogens in your mouth.

Xylitol

Another type of sugar that you can consider is xylitol, which is a powdered type of sugar alcohol that should be easily integrated into some of your favorite recipes. Xylitol does not poison the bacteria in your mouth like honey does, but the benefit is that the bad pathogens cannot consume this type of sugar. This means that you will be starving them, successfully tilting the scale and favoring the good bacteria in your mouth.

Maple Syrup

The last type of sugar that you might want to consider replacing traditional sugar with is maple syrup. This type of sugar is not poisonous to the bad bacteria in your mouth, although it is good for your overall health. The benefit is that maple syrup does contain some potassium and calcium, which are minerals that make up your teeth's enamel and should help them remineralize themselves.

Remember, that these are still sweeteners and should be treated as such, meaning that you should use them in moderation. Talk to your complete dentistry professional about other sweeteners that you can consider.