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Holiday Foods and Your Teeth: What to Eat, What to Limit and How to Enjoy Both

The holiday foods to limit are the sticky, hard and sugary ones: caramels, candy canes, dried fruit, fruitcake and sweet drinks like eggnog. Cheese, raw vegetables, plain yogurt and water are kinder to your teeth, and eating treats with a meal does less harm than grazing all day.

Side cut-away of a lower premolar and molar in pink gum and porous jawbone, with sticky golden caramel on top of the molar running down into the gap between the two teeth and a chalky white spot on the molar's enamel, on a cream to gold background

You do not have to skip the season's treats to protect your teeth. This guide explains what each kind of holiday food does to your teeth and which small habits make the biggest difference.

Key takeaways

  • Grazing does the most harm. Every sweet bite starts a fresh acid attack on your enamel and a day of nibbling adds up fast.
  • Judge a treat by how it behaves in your mouth. Sticky, slow to dissolve, hard and acidic foods are the ones to limit.
  • Pair sweets with a meal. Your mouth makes more saliva at mealtimes to rinse sugar off your teeth.
  • Hold the toothbrush after acid. Rinse with water and wait about 30 minutes before you brush.
  • A broken tooth needs a call. Phone the clinic about a tooth that breaks on a treat even if it does not hurt yet.

What happens to your teeth after a sweet bite?

Diagram titled How Plaque Acid Harms Enamel showing a premolar cut in half in pink gum and porous jawbone, with a yellow band of plaque on the outer crown, small bubbles rising from it and a chalky white patch under it, and gold leader lines to the labels Healthy enamel, Plaque, Softened enamel, Dentin and Pulp
Plaque bacteria turn sugar into acid that softens the enamel underneath.

After a sweet bite, bacteria in plaque feed on the sugar and turn it into acid. That acid softens the enamel, the hard outer layer of each tooth.

Plaque is the sticky film that forms on your teeth every day and its bacteria keep making acid for some time after each sweet bite. Saliva then washes that acid away so the enamel can recover. A plate of cookies you pick at all afternoon never gives your saliva that break.

Starchy foods like crackers, stuffing and cake count too because they break down into sugar and pack into the gaps between teeth.

What makes a holiday food risky for your teeth?

Close view of a back tooth in pink gum with one cusp broken off, showing cream dentin at the break, a thin dark crack line running down toward the gum and the broken piece lying on the gum beside it, with a gold framed grey x-ray inset of a cracked tooth between its neighbours
A back tooth with a broken cusp and a crack line, with an x-ray inset.

A holiday food is risky when it clings to your teeth, stays in your mouth for a long time, takes hard biting or bathes your teeth in acid. Many seasonal treats do two of these at once.

Holiday food What makes it risky A kinder habit
Caramels, toffee and gumdrops They glue sugar into the grooves Have them with a meal and rinse with water
Candy canes and hard candy Slow to dissolve and hard to bite Let it melt and never crunch it
Dried fruit and fruitcake Sticky sugar settles between teeth Choose fresh fruit with a meal
Eggnog, hot chocolate and cider A lot of sugar in every cup Keep to one small cup and drink water after
Wine and spirits Alcohol dries your mouth and red wine stains Sip water between drinks
Sour candy and citrus Acid softens enamel directly Rinse and wait before you brush
Peanut brittle, nuts and popcorn Hard pieces and stray kernels Chew slowly and check each handful

Sticky toffee can pull a loose crown or filling out of place. Hard and chewy treats also put extra strain on dentures and bridges. Cut them into small pieces or pass on them.

If a hard treat breaks a tooth, stop chewing on that side and keep any broken piece. Call the clinic even if it does not hurt, and do the same for a child's chipped tooth. Our page on broken tooth repair explains the repair options. Keep hard candy, whole nuts and popcorn away from children under 4, because they can choke on them. For severe pain, call Grimsby Lake Dental in Grimsby at (905) 309-5757 for the soonest available appointment.

Call 911 or go to the nearest hospital emergency department if you have trouble breathing or swallowing, severe facial swelling, swelling spreading toward the eye or neck, uncontrolled bleeding, a serious facial or jaw injury, or a fever with worsening swelling or illness. Our emergency page explains what to do next.

Which holiday foods are kinder to your teeth?

Cheese, plain yogurt, raw vegetables and lean meat make better holiday snacks than candy, and plain water is the best drink between meals.

These foods carry little sugar, so they give plaque bacteria less to work with. Put the stuffing and cranberry sauce on your dinner plate and skip picking at the leftovers later. Fresh fruit beats dried fruit and citrus is easiest on your enamel when you eat it as part of a meal. Sugar-free gum after a meal also helps your saliva clear away food.

How do you build a tooth-friendly holiday routine?

Eat your treats with a meal or straight after one, then drink water and keep up your normal brushing.

  • Pick a time for dessert. One sitting gives your teeth fewer acid attacks than a whole day of snacking.
  • Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. Make the last brush of the day come after the party ends.
  • Floss once a day. Holiday starches hide between teeth in places a brush cannot reach.

A dental cleaning removes the hardened plaque that brushing misses. Ask about fluoride treatment at that visit if you get cavities easily. A dental exam can find decay early, when a small filling can still repair it. Our guide to what happens at a dental checkup walks you through the visit.

Due for a cleaning before the holidays? Book an exam or call (905) 309-5757.

Frequently asked questions

Is stuffing bad for your teeth?

Stuffing is soft and starchy, so it packs between your teeth and feeds plaque. Floss on the days you eat it.

Can alcohol harm your teeth?

Alcohol dries out your mouth, which leaves less saliva to rinse away sugar and acid. Drink a glass of water alongside each drink.

Can I still have eggnog over the holidays?

Yes, in a small serving. Drink it with a meal and follow it with a glass of water to rinse off the sugar.