The holiday season can be a busy time, but for the sake of your dental wellness, you should read about 4 ways to make your smile healthier despite the festivities.
How Can I Continue To Protect My Smile During The Holiday Season?
1. Continue To Practice Good Oral Hygiene Everyday
2. Eat A Balanced Diet
3. Limit Your Intake Of Alcoholic Beverages
4. Don’t Forget Your Check-Up Appointment With Your Dentist
1. You Should Continue To Practice Good Oral Hygiene Everyday
Brushing your teeth at least twice a day is vital for your oral health for various reasons. The human mouth can be full of bacteria that build up if you do not brush your teeth. Without proper brushing and flossing, sugary and fatty foods create high levels of acid in your mouth that can eventually lead to cavities. Remembering to brush your teeth is important to protecting the health and appearance of your teeth. If you’re anticipating a busy, travel-heavy holiday season, you can always carry a portable toothbrush so that you can be prepared, wherever you go. Remember to floss and use mouthwash daily to further strengthen your oral hygiene routine.
2. You Should Eat A Balanced Diet
During the holiday season, sugary delights are everywhere. The tables and kitchen counters can be full of cookies, brownies, pies, and cakes. Realistically, it can be difficult to avoid all these desserts–and, you do deserve to treat yourself. However, it’s possible to indulge once or twice without getting carried away. Another thing you can try to do is control your intake of sugary and heavy-calorie foods by eating natural sugars in fruit or low-fat yogurt. Try choosing fruit-based desserts or reduced-sugar options while you are out.
You may also want to avoid snacking constantly to prevent cavities. When we eat, our saliva plays a part in keeping our mouths healthy by sweeping away sugars stuck to the surface of our teeth and leftover food particles. When we snack constantly on sugary treats and beverages throughout the day, we risk making our mouths such a sugar-rich environment that regular saliva production simply cannot keep up. When there’s too much sugar consistently left over on the surface of teeth, you risk tooth decay. A certain kind of bacteria that lives in the human mouth likes to ingest sugar. As part of its digestive process, it produces acid as it consumes the leftover sugar on your teeth. Too much of this acid can damage your teeth, and cause the permanent holes in teeth we know as cavities.
Remember also to drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated helps with saliva production, and can be a useful way to wash away sugar and food debris after eating and drinking.
3. You Should Limit Your Intake Of Alcoholic Beverages
There are a number of ways that alcohol can damage your teeth. Sugar-heavy beverages, like some wines, increase the harmful bacteria in your mouth. Dehydration, a frequent side effect of alcohol consumption, can result in the same damaging result by decreasing your saliva flow and allowing sugars and bacteria to stick to your teeth. When enjoying alcohol during the holiday season, remember to drink water along with alcohol so you can keep your mouth and the rest of your body well-hydrated.
4. You Should Make A Checkup Appointment With Your Dentist
While it’s important to keep up good oral hygiene and health habits, your dental wellness is reliant on a number of important preventative measures. In addition to your daily flossing and brushing ritual, another crucial step is keeping your annual check-up appointments with your dentist. You should visit your dentist for a professional cleaning and examination twice a year. That’s once every 6 months–even if the appointment falls during the holiday season. Your smile and dental health are worth the effort.
If you are seeking dental care in Kamloops, consider Empire Dental. Empire Dental is proud to serve Kamloops and the surrounding neighborhoods in British Columbia. Call 250-374-7227 to ask about your options for dental hygiene and care, or schedule a visit today.
