Your Dental Care This Christmas

In our last blog before Christmas, we offer our Bedford patients some useful tips for maintaining healthy teeth over the festive period.

Christmas comes but once a year, as the saying goes, but sometimes it seems to creep up on us and is almost here before we know it. This can lead to a lot of last minute buying for presents and food, ready for the big day. Most of us will enjoy the break and the opportunity to meet up with friends and relatives. It can be great fun for sure, but in our professional capacity, we are also aware of some of the pitfalls that it can bring for our patient’s oral health.

As this is our last blog of the year and it is only just over two weeks before Christmas, we thought that we would use it to focus on some tips to help you keep your teeth and gums healthy over the coming weeks.

Maintain your oral care routine

Even with the best of intentions; after a long and tiring Christmas day of preparing the food and the inevitable washing up as well as entertaining guest, to say nothing of any alcohol we consume, it is probably fair to say that when it comes to bedtime, all we want to do is to crawl into bed and sleep. It is important that however busy and tired you are though, you still need to brush your teeth both in the morning and the last thing before you go to bed (and no sneaky chocolates after brushing either). It might take a little effort, but it will pay dividends in helping to keep both teeth and gums healthy over the festive period.

Don’t smoke

Don’t be tempted by the ‘but it’s Christmas’ pleas to have a cigar or go outside for a smoke. Smoking is dangerous for your general health but also your oral health too. Gum disease and oral cancers are known to be more likely if you smoke. You might just think ‘it’s just one’, but as some ex smokers know, this can soon result in a return to a daily smoking habit due to the addictive nature of nicotine.

Moderate alcohol consumption

Most of us will have a drink or two over Christmas and the new year but some will take it further and consume too much. Unfortunately this can have unpleasant consequences beyond the likely hangover. Alcohol is known to increase the risk of gum disease as it causes a dry mouth overnight. This in turn enables bacteria to multiply more rapidly and gingivitis and periodontitis are then more likely too.

For the unfortunate few, accidents such as falls and collisions with objects may occur if they have had ‘one too many’. This can result in broken or even knocked out teeth. Should this happen to you when we are closed, please call our usual number and there will be information on where to go for an emergency dental appointment. Remember that if there is head trauma, you should go to A&E first to make sure there are no serious head injuries.

Avoid too many sweets

It goes without saying that many of us will consume more cakes, sweets, chocolates and puddings at Christmas than we usually do. As patients of The Dental Centre Bedford will know, this makes problems like tooth decay much more likely. Try to keep the amount of sugar consumed to a sensible level and perhaps help others by taking gifts other than chocolates etc too.

Say cheese

Following on from the above, one thing that you can eat which is good for your teeth is cheese. Especially if eaten at the end of a meal, it will help to rebalance the PH levels in your mouth and reduce potentially enamel damaging acidity. You could buy a cheese selection set instead of chocolates for a present too if you have a cheese lover in the family or as a friend.

Drink water

Especially if you are drinking alcohol, make sure to stay well hydrated. Not only will this reduce the severity of any hangovers but will also help to prevent a dry mouth. In addition to this, drinking water helps to wash away small pieces of food debris that become stuck between the teeth.

Please be sensible

Finally, whilst we expect our Bedford patients to enjoy themselves over the Christmas period, please be sensible too. Showing off my opening bottles with the teeth is a really bad idea and you may well break some teeth and even cut your mouth or face badly. Use the appropriate tools for opening bottles, cans and packets etc.

We hope that this blog helps you to get through the Christmas period trouble free and we would like to take this opportunity to wish all patients of The Dental Centre Bedford a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we will see you again in 2024.