High Fibre Diets and Oral Health: Dental Benefits You Shouldn’t Ignore

You’ve probably heard that a high fibre diet is good for your digestive system, but did you know it can also benefit your teeth and gums? The relationship between high fibre diets and oral health isn’t just an interesting nutrition fact — it’s something that could help you maintain a cleaner mouth, healthier gums, and a reduced risk of dental problems down the track.

Let’s explore how fibre works to support your oral health and how you can make easy changes to your diet to see real benefits for your smile.

How Fibre Helps Your Teeth

High fibre foods can benefit your teeth in several surprising ways:

1. Natural Tooth Cleaning

When you chew fibre-rich foods — like raw carrots or apples — you create a scrubbing effect. The fibrous texture gently cleans the surface of your teeth by minimising food particles and plaque. It’s like giving your teeth a quick brush between meals.

2. Stimulating Saliva Production

Your mouth produces more saliva the more you chew— and saliva is one of your body’s natural defences against tooth decay. It helps neutralise acids, rinse away particles, and repair early signs of enamel erosion. High fibre foods encourage this extra chewing and, in turn, keep your mouth healthier and more balanced.

3. Better Gum Health

Chewing fibre-dense foods can stimulate the gum tissue, boosting blood flow and helping to keep your gums firm. Over time, this can reduce the risk of gum inflammation and periodontal disease.

The Best High Fibre Foods for Oral Health

When we talk about high fibre diets, we’re referring to dietary fibre — the indigestible part of plant-based foods. It passes through the digestive system, helping with bowel health, but it also plays a part in oral hygiene.

Here are some excellent choices that are not only good for your overall health but also support better oral hygiene:

• Vegetables – carrots, celery, broccoli, beetroot, leafy greens and potatoes
• Fruit – apples, oranges, pears, bananas and berries
• Wholegrains – whole grain breads (choose a bread that has at least 3 grams of fibre per slice, oats, brown rice, bran and barley
• Beans and Legumes – lentils, peas and beans
• Seeds and Nuts – chai seeds, quinoa, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachios and almonds.

How Much Fibre Do You Really Need?

The Heart Foundation recommends the following daily fibre intake:

• Approximately 4 serves of wholegrain or wholemeal foods
• Approximately 5 serves of vegetables, beans or legumes
• Approximately 2 servings of fruit

These amounts don’t just support digestive health — they also have a beneficial effect on your oral health by keeping your teeth and gums cleaner and stronger.

Fun Fact: What Ancient Diets Say About Our Teeth

Ancient hunter-gatherers had almost no dental crowding issues; the condition first became more common about 12,000 years ago among the earliest farmers in Southwest Asia.

The hunter-gatherers’ diet was based on harder foods such as raw vegetables and meat that required lots of chewing.

Move forward several thousand years, and the farmer had a diet that was a lot softer and included more processed foods, such as cereals and legumes, that required less chewing.

The popular opinion of the effects of this change in diet is that our jaw has lessened in size over time, but has not reduced the dimensions of the teeth.

Often, we do not have adequate space in the jaw for our teeth, resulting in approximately one in five people experiencing malocclusion and dental crowding.

Dentists are finding that an increasing percentage of the population needs to have their wisdom teeth removed, as there is not enough room for them.

There is also an increase in the number of people who never even get their wisdom teeth, making us believe that our bodies are making allowances for this change of diet.

It’s Time to Rethink What You Eat

Incorporating more fibre into your meals doesn’t just help your gut — it helps your teeth too. Choosing crunchy vegetables over soft processed snacks, opting for wholegrains instead of white bread, and including a daily dose of nuts or legumes can go a long way in supporting both oral and overall health.

Oral Health in North Lakes

At Passion Family Dental North Lakes, we believe that good oral health starts with everyday habits — but routine dental check-ups play an equally important role.

If it’s been a while since your last dental visit or you’re interested in how your diet may be affecting your teeth, we’d love to help.

New Patient Professional Check-up + Clean

Includes: Exam, Scale and Clean, Fluoride, two X-rays. *Terms & Conditions

To book an appointment with your North Lakes dentist, call us on (07) 3465 1199 or book your appointment online.

We are located at Unit 4/6 Endeavour Boulevard in North Lakes.