With Effort, You Can Keep Your Mouth Healthy During the Holidays
There are a lot of demands during the holiday season without much time to devote to you or your family’s health. Goodies are available everywhere you go, and it’s not easy to stay healthy during the holidays. The American Dental Association (ADA) has some tips for keeping your mouth and teeth healthy during the holidays. Common sense and self-control will help you get through the coming weeks and come out on the other side with a healthy mouth.
Dental Tips for Getting Through the Holidays
Follow these simple dental tips, and you will still enjoy the holidays without compromising your pearly whites.
Teeth-Healthy Foods
Allow yourself to splurge a bit, but don’t go too crazy. Fruit and vegetables are always a great option, and they can balance out what you splurge on. Drink plenty of water and enjoy being with friends and family vs. binging on goodies.
Munch On the Meat and Cheese Plate
Cheese neutralizes the acid in other foods and drinks and supplies calcium and phosphates. Cheese and dairy products also help rebuild tooth enamel.
Avoid Some Holiday Candy and Goodies Altogether
Gummy, sticky, chewy, candy or ultra-sugary foods are the enemy to your teeth and gums. Other candy, like candy canes that take a long time to suck on, ice cubes that you chew on, and a variety of hard nuts can be detrimental to your teeth and gums.
It may be difficult to avoid these traditional treats, but think of what that wonderful piece of homemade toffee could do to the filling in your molar. That alone may be a good deterrent.
Don’t Use Your Teeth as a Tool
Teeth don’t make good tools. Using your teeth to open packages, bags or bottles can lead to a broken or chipped tooth, or even worse a tooth can fall out.
Using your teeth in this way weakens your tooth enamel and fragile edges of your teeth. This leads to breakage and cracking, which usually results in an expensive cosmetic dental repair job.
Limit the Bubbly
Adult beverages such as wine or alcohol, and even soft drinks have a reputation for having a high acid content, which wears away your protective tooth enamel.
If you’re already imbibing with bites from the cheese tray, the alkaline in the cheese helps to neutralize the acid from the beverage.
If you prize your pearly whites, drink light colored beverages. Red wine, cranberry juice and other dark or red beverages will stain your teeth. Clear and light-colored beverages will not have that effect.
Maintain Your Daily Oral Health Routine
Do what you can to stick to your daily oral health routine. Brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes each time, floss at least once daily and use antibacterial mouthwash to keep your mouth fresh and clean.
Plan ahead! If you are going straight from work to a holiday party. A small tooth brush and toothpaste kit will come in handy especially if you have broccoli caught in your teeth or breath that is odorous after eating something that is filled with garlic.
Chew Sugar Free Gum
If you can’t break away to brush your teeth, chew some sugar free gum. Clinical studies indicate that chewing sugar free gum for 20 minutes following meals can help prevent tooth decay. Chewing sugar free gum increases saliva flow, which washes away debris between your teeth.
Schedule Your Post-Holiday Dentist Appointment
Now is the time to schedule a post-holiday dental appointment with Dr. Angela S. Evanson, DDS. Call (720) 409-0008 or contact her online to make an appointment! Be sure to enjoy this wonderful holiday season!
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