Benefits of Green Tea for Good Oral Health

by Chesh Pattinson SEO

Green tea is drunk widely in Asian countries and moreover western countries too have started adopting for its health benefits. All together, there is increasing interest in the health benefits of green tea in the segment of oral health too.

Benefits of Green Tea for Good Oral Health

Tea is one of the commonly consumed drinks in the world. Besides being an appetizer and an inexpensive beverage with not many calories, it also has a unique set of natural chemicals that provide various therapeutic benefits. Research suggests that tea, whether black and green, displays vital antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cavity and antiviral properties.

Green tea is not only a treat for your taste buds but also provides benefits for your oral cavity. Hence, green tea has rightly derived its status as one of nature’s so-called ‘super foods’ for its good health properties.

Tips for Making and Drinking Green Tea

Doctors always insist on including more greens in your diet. So why not green tea as well? It is said that it is safe to consume up to five cups of green tea a day. In order to get accurate flavor and maximum health benefits, ensure you prepare your tea properly. Preferably take a ceramic teapot by warming it with hot water. To boil the water for tea use fresh filtered cold water. Then, let the tea water cool for three minutes. Pour it over tea leaves and cover it for three more minutes.

Also helpful in oral care, following are the benefits of Green Tea.

Prevention of Cavity

As green tea fights bacteria and lowers the acidity and dental plaque, it is a useful tool in preventing cavities. In many countries, dentists rinse their patients’ mouths with green tea for five minutes before the dental check.
Tooth Decay

Studies also suggest that the chemical antioxidant ‘catechin’ in tea devastates bacteria and viruses that cause dental caries, throat infections and other dental conditions. Rinsing the mouth with green tea reduces bacteria and acid in their mouths, resulting in less decay and it also reduces gum bleeding.
Gum healthiness

Green tea’s anti-inflammatory force also seems to help control periodontal (gum) disease.
Reduction of tooth loss

It is only logical that green tea that helps prevent cavities and gum disease will help you keep your teeth intact.
Control of Cancer

The antioxidants in this tea appear to protect us against cellular harm and cancerous growths such as tumors. The catechins found in tea prevent cell mutation, reduce the formation and growth of tumors and deactivate certain carcinogens. Drinking four cups of green tea a day may be needed to garner the anti-cancer benefits.
Healthier breath

Green tea has been linked with better-smelling breath; possibly, because it kills the microbes that gives you bad breadth. The Faculty of Dentistry at the University of British Columbia checked the level of smelly compounds in the mouths of their patients after they had consumed green-tea or another substance with similar functionalities. Study shows that green tea outperformed chewing gum, other mints and even parsley-seed oil.

The research by dentists in Vancouver came to a conclusion that ‘polyphenols’, the antioxidants in the tea, have the power to obliterate a number of compounds in the oral cavity which act as a source of tooth decay, bad breath and even mouth cancer. The analysis shows that the polyphenols possessing antiviral properties are believed to protect from influenza. Green tea can also abolish halitosis through variation of odorant sulphur. Oral cavity, oxidative stress and inflammation subsequent to cigarettes’ deleterious compounds may get reduced because of green tea polyphenols.

The Key for Good Oral Health is Antioxidants

Green tea being rich in catechin polyphenols, mainly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), it is a great antioxidant. Studies also indicate that it not only prevents the growth of cancer cells, but also has the ability to kill cancer cells without denting healthy tissue. Catechins also kill mouth bacteria related with tooth decay and gum disease, hence the researchers infer the dental benefits of drinking green tea. However, adding sugar, honey or other sweeteners to tea may negate these benefits.

Green Tea is Unique

Green tea is unique in the tea world though, along with black tea, it comes from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Even Though black tea and green tea are made from the same plant, the latter is processed in a different way that means it retains more polyphenols and destroys unwanted caffeine.

If you have healthy gums and teeth, that means you have a healthy mouth and that is just another good sign of healthy body. Hence adapting drinking green tea will fetch you a wide range of health related benefits along with good oral hygiene.