Always keep your mouth moist by drinking lots of water. Saliva protects both hard and soft oral tissues. If you have a dry mouth, supplement your diet with sugarless candy or gum to stimulate saliva.

Foods that cling to your teeth promote tooth decay. So when you snack, avoid soft, sweet, sticky foods, such as cakes, candy and dried fruits. Instead, choose dentally healthy foods such as nuts, raw vegeta­bles, plain yogurt, cheese and sugarless gum or candy.

When you eat fer­mentable carbohydrates, such as crackers, cookies and chips, eat them as part of your meal, instead of by themselves. Combinations of foods neu­tralize acids in the mouth and inhibit tooth decay. For exam­ple, enjoy cheese with your crackers. Your snack will be just as satisfying and better for your dental health.

One caution: malnutri­tion (bad nutrition) can result from too much nourishment as easily as too little. Each time you eat, you create an environment for oral bacteria to develop. Additionally, studies are showing that den­tal disease is just as related to overeating as heart disease, obesity, diabetes and hyper­tension. So making a habit of eating too much of just about anything, too frequently, should be avoided.