You’re late for work, skip breakfast and during the commute, pick up a doughnut and cup of coffee and you’re on your way. This common quick-fix breakfast scenario can lengthen your time spent in the dental chair, reports the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), an organization of general dentists dedicated to continuing dental education.

The sugars in doughnuts have been identified as a risk factor for gum inflammation and cavities. The AGD has reported findings that show the sugars in oatmeal cookies amount to only one-fifth of the sugars in plain doughnut particles.

The amount of sugar and cream in your coffee also can have a direct effect on the amount of cavity-causing bacteria. Tannins found in coffee etch into the pits and grooves of the tooth enamel, producing a rough, stained surface.

What can someone do to lessen the sugar bath their teeth receive from this breakfast combination?

“Don’t nurse your coffee or pick at that doughnut throughout the morning,” says AGD spokesperson Paul Bussman, DMD, FAGD. “When you eat your doughnut quickly, it limits the exposure time to the sugar attack.”

“Also, cut back on the amount of cream and sugar for your coffee,” advises Dr. Bussman. “Try picking up fruit or another morning meal substitute.”

Proper nutrition and dental health are indeed intimately linked. Malnutrition has long been linked to common dental health problems, including:

Tooth decay
Gingivitis
Advanced Periodontal Disease
Halitosis
Thus, before focusing on fancy dental health products that are supposedly the new space-aged cure-all for dental health and oral hygiene concerns, it is important to get the basics right. This may be considered to be alternative dental health care by some dentists and medical professionals who tend to focus most education efforts on good oral hygiene practices. However, nutrition is the foundation of dental health and oral hygiene is the complement.

To this end, it is important to focus on fluoride intake. Almost all dental health information released in the past 3 generations points to the importance of fluoride in the prevention of the most common dental problems-cavities.

If you ingest a single milligram of fluoride every day since the day you were born, the odds of having tooth decay decreases by an estimated 50-60%. This is because fluoride is particularly important when teeth are developing because it will literally increase the strength of the tooth and its surrounding enamel as the teeth are mineralizing.