Ignoring your dental hygiene, especially if your diet is poor, can lead to many problems with your teeth. The problems include tooth sensitivity, be it to cold or hot foods/liquids. Enamel protects teeth from damage during the contact with food, keeping your teeth healthy. When the enamel is either brushed away, torn away (by grinding of your teeth), or if you've cracked a tooth, you're going to have more sensitive teeth. You may even feel pain when you eat sugar. It has a lot to do with the dentin exposure, rather than food habits. Read for the detailed reasons and what you can do about it. 

Why Do Sweets Hurt Teeth?

Sweets can hurt your teeth by wearing away the protective enamel. Sweets are high in fermentable carbohydrates which can form acids when combining with the bacteria in your mouth. Those acids can erode your enamel. More sugar you consume, more acid it can produce. Enamel erosion can ultimately lead to cavity, causing pain and other discomfort. 

Why Do My Teeth Hurt When Eating Sweets?

• Tooth sensitivity is usually caused by receding gums and periodontal disease. When the enamel coating is gone and the root is exposed to food, plaque and acids, the nerve inside the root may be irritated and lead to pain. Tooth sensitivity can be identified easily. You may have the problem if pain is experienced when your teeth come into contact with hot, cold or acidic food. Breathing in cold air may cause similar discomfort. Half the population has experienced tooth sensitivity at one time or another.
• Tooth decay is not the biggest deal to fix, but can cause lots of discomfort until filled. Cavities form when bacteria mixes with food plague and causes the enamel on your teeth to decay. So, why do sweets hurt teeth? Once the sugar gets into the hole that the wearing down of the enamel has formed, it can irritate the nerve and cause extreme discomfort. 

Five Foods to Strengthen Your Teeth

Now that you know the answer to "why do sweets hurt teeth", you may want to know what you can eat when the pain is disturbing you. 

1. Fiber-Rich Fruits and Veggies

Everyone knows that fruits and vegetables are good for you, but they can also help you with your oral health. Fiber stimulates the flow of saliva, the number one fighter against cavities. Saliva can neutralize the acids which harm your enamel, and can wash away any food particles. 

2. Dairy Products

Calcium, phosphates and vitamin D in dairy products are significant in oral health. Tooth is mainly made of calcium. Getting enough calcium and vitamin D can help rebuild the enamel. You can also try juices that have been calcium-fortified or soy milk.

3. Sugarless Chewing Gum

Chewing sugarless gum can stimulate saliva flow, washing away acids and food plagues that may have been sticking to your teeth. Xylitol, which is commonly found the sugarless gums, helps in preventing decaying in teeth.

4. Tea

Green and black tea both have compounds that keep bacteria at bay, which help prevent gum disease and tooth decay. However, adding sugar will backtrack these benefits.

5. Fluoridated Beverages

Drinking water that has been fluoridated can prevent tooth decay. You can ask for fluoride supplementation from your dentist if fluoridated water is not available in your area. 

Remedies for Sensitive and Painful Teeth

Tooth sensitivity can come and go, but if you're feeling a lot more of it around, try talking to your dentist. They will know what to avoid in order to keep the discomfort at bay. 

1. Desensitizing Toothpaste

Desensitizing toothpaste can help stop the pain that comes from tooth sensitivity once used daily, or after a few weeks.

2. Fluoride

Everyone hates the fluoride part of a cleaning at the dentist, but there’s a reason they make you do this! Fluoride can help with tooth sensitivity to keep the enamel strong and help with pain.

3. Desensitizing or Bonding

Using bonding resin with sensitive root surfaces that have been exposed can help with tooth sensitivity.

4. Surgical Gum Graft

Your dentist can take some gum tissue from other parts of your mouth and place in where needed to protect the exposed root. 

5. Root Canal

If you have problems in the dental pulp of your tooth, your dentist may recommend root canal therapy. It's used when your're experiencing extreme pain and other treating options don't work.