Safeguard Your Mouth From Holiday Sweets
Christmas cookies, pies, candy, and so many more sweets endlessly appear during the holiday season. These snacks really bring out the holiday spirit in people, but there are still some treats you should totally avoid while feeding your sweet tooth. Here are a few helpful tricks and tips to help you do so.
Avoid These Sweets
Completely avoiding certain treats is best for your enamel, and can make your job of brushing at the end of the day much easier. In addition to avoidance, these tips may help save your teeth from attack.
Avoid chewy caramel, dried fruit, and sticky sweets. These sweets are a not good for your oral health especially when the sugars become lodged between teeth and are unreachable by your floss and toothbrush. In addition to chewy/sticky sweets, avoid citrusy snacks like lemon bars and berry pies. The acids in combination with the carbohydrates (sugars and starches) demineralize enamel much faster than sugar alone. The demineralization of enamel is the entire reason you should avoid most sugars this season—because when enamel is softened, it is more susceptible to decay.
Demineralization happens every time you consume carbohydrates (sugars and starches), but there’s good news too. Saliva naturally restores the balance of acids, thus halting demineralization. If you’re going to have a sweet treat, eat a raw piece of fruit afterward. Before toothbrushes, raw fruit and veggies were nature’s way of scrubbing plaque and left-over food morsels out of teeth. One more thing: Don’t brush immediately after eating. You’ve probably been told all your life to brush after eating, but research shows that brushing while acid levels are high can actually cause abrasion to the surface of teeth. Instead, rinse your mouth out with water after you’re done eating, and chew on gum to remove chromogens (staining agents) from your teeth.
Keep Your Oral Health in Check
Take your oral health seriously; your permanent teeth are your last set. At home, floss once and brush twice daily, and add an anti-gingivitis rinse to further protect your mouth. Seeing Dr. Lawson and her team every six months is critical to your oral health. Regular dental cleanings and checkups remove tartar (calculus) buildup and can catch cavities in early stages before they do more damage.
To reserve an appointment for early in the new year, come see Lawson Family Dentistry, serving patients from Urbandale, Waukee, Grimes, and the surrounding areas, at (515) 278-4366 .
