How to Keep Your Mouth Healthy During the Holidays
How can you reduce the risks of holiday-time dental decay? No one wants to start the new year off with a cavity. If you have concerns about your healthy mouth, take a look at the ways to get a winter white smile and avoid December holiday decay.
Choose Water
The fancy mixed drinks and mocktails served at holiday parties are festively tasty treats. Even though the red and green beverages may sparkle and shine, they're also filled with artificial colors, sugar, and enamel-eating acids. Why should you choose water over these types of holiday drinks? When it comes to your dental health, some cocktails and mocktails can:
- Cause cavities. Drinks with high sugar content can cause dental decay. The bacteria in your mouth uses sugars from the foods you eat and beverages you drink to get energy. As they digest the sugar, they produce acids that can damage teeth and cause cavities.
- Erode enamel. Along with the sugar in sodas and some juices (such as citrus juices), these beverages also contain enamel-eroding acids. This erosion can weaken teeth and leave them vulnerable to decay.
- Stain teeth. The artificial coloring in some cocktail mixers or mocktails can stain your teeth. While this won't necessarily impact your dental health, discoloration may ruin your otherwise happy holiday grin.
- Cause dry mouth. Alcoholic holiday beverages can dry your mouth. Without saliva to adequately wash the plaque away, you're at risk for dental decay.
Not only can water save your teeth from these unhealthy issues, but the fluoride in it can reduce the risk of dental decay and strengthen your smile. To get the benefits of fluoridation, you need to choose water from the tap or a bottled, fluoride-infused product.
Skip Sticky Foods
The longer sugar sits on your teeth, the higher the dental risk becomes. Sticky foods adhere to solid surfaces (such as the front or top of your tooth) and can wedge their way into crevices between teeth and near the gumline.
What holiday foods are most likely to stick to your teeth? Some of the most popular picks to avoid include:
- Dried fruit. Whether they're mixed into a holiday fruit cake, part of a Christmas-time gift basket, or snacks your host sets out during a party, dried fruit pieces are high-sugar foods that will stick to your teeth.
- Gumdrops. The sugar-coated gumdrops on your child's gingerbread house may add some holiday cheer to your decorations. But this highly sticky candy can cause serious problems for your dental health.
- Candy canes. Not only are candy canes hard, but they're also sticky (when mixed with liquid, such as saliva). The splinter pieces of candy can stick to your mouth and wedge in the small spaces between teeth.
If you still want to indulge in a few sticky treats, you can reduce the risks with a few simple steps. Brush and floss immediately after eating or vigorously swish with fluoridated water. This can loosen trapped food particles and stop decay before it starts.
Spot Starchy Foods
Soda, candy, and other obvious cavity-causers aren't the only holiday picks to watch out for. Starchy foods are high in sugar and often leave behind trapped debris. As the holidays approach, pay special attention to foods such as:
- Cakes, pies, and cookies. These are all high starch foods that can cause decay if you don't brush and floss right away after eating.
- Sticky buns. Does your family have a favorite sticky bun breakfast tradition? The sugary coating on these pastries can stick to your teeth and increase the risk of dental decay.
- Bread. The doughy bread and rolls that go along with your holiday meal can lead to plaque buildup — especially if crumbs or pieces of the bread are trapped in between your teeth.
Like with sticky foods, always brush, floss, or swish away starchy debris as soon as you can after eating.
Along with what you eat, how you care for your teeth can keep them healthy during the holidays. Do you need a dental checkup? Contact Milner Dentistry for more information.