Vitamin C And Your Oral Health

Dentist Articles

You have probably heard that vitamin C is good if you have a cold. However, you may not know that the nutrient is essential when it comes to your oral health. You need to make sure your diet is filled with foods rich in the nutrient. You need vitamin C every day, because it is excreted through your urine if you do not use it. You need about 65 to 90 milligrams of the vitamin daily to reach your recommended daily intake. If you want to know why this is a good idea for great oral health, then keep reading. 

Helps Build Collagen

If you have ever accidentally scratched or cut your gums, then you know how quickly the gums heal themselves. The gums heal quickly for a wide variety of reasons. The mouth contains a great deal of small capillaries, and the ample blood supply can help to transport oxygen and other essential nutrients to the gums to help them heal. Also, the saliva in the mouth forms a mucous membrane over the gums that helps to protect them from bacteria and fungi. This protects the tissues from infection and it also limits tissue damage after an injury occurs. 

While the gums usually heal quickly, you may not see the tissues in your mouth healing quite so fast if you do not supply your body with enough vitamin C. Vitamin C helps the body build new tissues in areas where damage has occurred. The damaged tissue will need to go through a remodeling process where strands of new proteins are built to fill in the opening or gap. Collagen is the name for the material that helps to glue or combine cells together to form the connective tissues. Collagen is formed with the help of vitamin C. Vitamin C helps with the breakdown and synthesis of proteins that are needed for collagen to form. Once collagen is produced, it can do its job of healing your gum tissues. 

Collagen is also the main building block that forms the tissues in your capillaries. If the small blood vessels break when you injure your gums, then collagen will be needed to create new capillaries. If your body does not have enough vitamin C to help with the creation of collagen, then the capillaries may be harder than normal, since collagen helps to increase the elasticity of new tissue strands. If blood vessels are not elastic, then blood will have a harder time moving through them.

Promotes A Strong Epithelium

While the saliva is essential in protecting the gum tissues from harm, the tissues of your mouth also have a thin film called an epithelium that protects them. The epithelium makes up the very exterior of the gum tissues, and it keeps the gums closest to the dental roots from deteriorating, even when bacteria come into close contact with the gums. The epithelium stays strong against bacterial activity if the microorganisms get through the mucous membrane that sits over the tissues. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that helps with the maintenance of the epithelium. Without vitamin C, the epithelium may start to weaken. You are likely to see the gums bleeding when this happens, and the gum tissues may become infected.

Gingivitis is a concern when the epithelium breaks down, and so is the formation of accesses in the gum tissues. If bacterial activity is able to increase near the teeth, then cavities are a concern too. 

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient if you want to maintain your oral health. Make sure you eat foods high in vitamin C, and also speak with your family dentist about other things you can do to keep the gums and teeth as healthy as possible. For more information, check out a website like http://www.allaboutsmilesinc.com/.

1 June 2016