The stickiness and the retention of foods

In modern society, diet and nutrition are very complex issues and are known to be closely related to oral health and disease. A number of product-related factors are known to determine the eff ect a food may eventually have in the mouth. One common recommendation given to patients by the dental profession, when it comes to both dental caries and plaque formation, is to avoid “sticky foods”. In this context, this means that the patient should limit consumption of food products that are retained in the oral cavity for a long period, as the stickiness of these products prolongs contact with the teeth. Foods and their metabolic end-products may adhere to soft tissues, dental hard tissues, dental plaque, carious lesions and probably also calculus, which may in turn have a negative infl uence on several of these. Th e amount of residue and the effi ciency of its removal are closely related to the chemical and physical characteristics of the product.