Updated July 17, 2015.

Written or reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com's Medical Review Board.

The next time you knock back a handful of manufactured vitamins to ensure your body’s good health, give some thought to the vitamins, minerals and nutrients needed above the neck—in your mouth.

Teeth are not just hard-as-stone dead objects, but living tissues. Just as other parts of your body require nutrients and nurturing, so do your teeth. The mouth is the gateway to your overall wellness. It requires more care than brushing, flossing and rinsing alone.

Our teeth need to eat! Did you know a nourished tooth has the ability to fill a cavity?! The dentine—just under the enamel can grow and heal itself, but it needs oxygen, nerve supply and nutrition.

Nutritional deficiencies manifest in the mouth. Redness at the corners of the mouth, shiny, glossy tongue, burning mouth, bleeding gums, can all be signs of different deficiencies, such as B-6, iron or vitamin A or C.

Eliminating sugar and adding essential nurturing nourishment with minerals and antioxidants protects your teeth from decaying, promotes disease free gums and keeps harmful bacterias and infections away!

It’s not necessary to rush out and buy a bucket load of vitamins if your grocery shopping list includes the right combination of foods which maximize good oral health.

They include:

• The B’s: 2, 16 and 12, niacin and folic acid work wonders to protect against oral cancer development. Include poultry, bananas and almonds for delivering a rich b combo.
  
• Vitamin A is found in carrots and cantaloupe, but also green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale and collard greens. ‘A’ fights cavity causing dry mouth and maintaining healthy gum cells all around the mouth.
  

• Vitamin C deters bleeding gums, loose teeth and cell damage. It will also promote a faster recovery from oral surgeries. Fill your basket with a fresh and delicious array of strawberries, cantaloupe, mangos, kiwi and papaya.
  
• Sunshine, milk, eggs and oily fish are the essence of Vitamin D—which ensures strong teeth and jaw bones.
  
• Calcium in the forms of milk, cheese, yogurt, salmon, sardines and green leafy vegetables is much needed element in preventing bone, jaw and teeth loss. It is a miracle mineral for rebuilding enamel.
  
• Zinc heals cold sores and canker sores and is also important for proper digestion. It’s housed in seafood, pumpkin seeds, liver, eggs and lentils.
  
• Your immune system will love you for pumping iron into it by way of fish, dark leafy greens and eggs.
  
• Potassium is found in almost all the food groups—from fruits to vegetables to dairy and legumes. It promotes proper nerve and muscle responses.
  

This is just a simple sampling of the many necessary and helpful ways to increase your daily intake of vital antioxidants and minerals. By eating the whole fruit or vegetable, we also ingest fiber. Vegetable fibers, from celery or apple for instance, have a cleansing action of the oral cavity, yet another reason why you should have the entire fruit or vegetable and not just a multivitamin or a juice. For more information, consult a nutritionist or an integrative dentist. A recent poll shows that only 4 per cent of dental practices offer nutritional counseling, so it’s up to you to seek out resources for additional guidance.

Remember to think before you chew—as to how the foods you choose to eat affect not only the rest of your body—but your mouth. Feed and care for your teeth and gums and they’ll function and smile back at you in healthy appreciation.

Dr. Sanda Moldovan is a practicing Beverly Hills and Los Angeles Periodontist and Nutritionist, with a focus on natural health.