Maintaining your dental health this Christmas

There’s so much going on at Christmas, some things just slip your mind or fall down your priority list. One of those things might be your dental hygiene routine, right? Don’t worry, we understand that there’s a lot on at this time of year – school plays, present shopping, and organising your own social and family calendar takes a lot of time and effort! If skipping out on your dental health feels all too easy, we’re going to help you reshuffle your priorities so that you can always make time for cleaning your teeth at the end of a long and joyous day. Here are our top tips on how to maintain your dental health amidst all the fun and frequent parties of Christmas!

Always drink responsibly

Christmas is a season known for festivities and where there are festivities there is alcohol. Whether you’re planning a big party, have plenty of catch-ups and meet-ups, or just enjoy a glass or two with dinner, alcohol becomes far more frequent during this time of year. This means that you’re fairly frequently exposing your teeth to harmful tannins, acids, and sugars when you drink. Tannins are organic pigments found in fruit skins, leaves, and pulp, and they’re naturally very dark and rich in colour. While these tannins give some of our favourite with-food drinks such as red wine its heady flavour, they also stain your teeth and dry out your mouth, encouraging the pigments to stick more! White wine is another culprit of damaging our smile, though this time with its acid concentration that eats away at our enamel. Fizzy drinks you’d commonly mix with spirits and in cocktails are also high in sugar and acid, focusing their efforts on our enamel and giving us cavities. When you drink this holiday season, try to do so through a straw so you limit your teeth’s exposure to these harmful drinks. Also, after every alcoholic beverage, try to have at least a little drink of water to rinse your mouth out of any residual acids and pigments. This could really help your continued dental health this holiday season!

Enjoy sugary sweets in moderation

Whether parent or child, you’re going to be enjoying some sweet treats this Christmas. Whether your vice is chocolate, Christmas cake, or sweets themselves, you need to keep an eye on how you eat your treats. This is because it’s not necessarily about how much we eat, but how we eat it. For instance, grazing throughout the day on foods with high sugar levels and constantly dipping into the chocolate barrel ensures that you are constantly topping up the sugar levels in your mouth. Try to allow yourself one or two snack times during the day where you compile everything you’d like to treat yourself to into that one serving. This means that you are consuming sugar in one sitting rather than periodically throughout the day, lessening your teeth’s overall exposure time to these harmful sweeties. You could prolong your dental health and save your enamel all in one go.

Don’t forget your dental health this Christmas!

We know that after a long day of Christmas preparations and Christmas entertaining you’d rather just fall straight into bed and sleep blissfully. This is a dangerous temptation considering the sugar and alcohol you may have consumed throughout the day (and even the caffeine to keep you going), a temptation that you should resist! Always make sure you brush your teeth before going to bed to stop any harmful bacteria attacking your protective enamel overnight. Brushing, flossing, and mouthwash is definitely very important during this concentrated month of celebrations and frivolity, so make sure you stay on top of your dental health.

Have a wonderful Christmas from all of the team at Down House Dental Practice in Steyning! If you’d like to receive any more advice or book in a last-minute appointment before the holidays commence, enquire online or speak to a member of staff today.