With the festive season freshly over, many of us are probably feeling the effects of over-indulgence! An abundance of food and wine over that period often takes its toll on your oral health. Whilst many of us are now looking forward to improving our eating habits and overall health in 2020, we should remember to include our oral health as a part of it!
Eating in high frequency
Grazing, or eating throughout the day, makes you more prone to cavities. A constant plaque load creates an acidic environment that favours cavity formation. Saliva has a buffering effect to neutralise the acids. However, when the time between food is minimal, this does not give the acidic environment time to neutralise.
High sugar food and soft drinks
It is a well-known fact that high sugar food contributes to cavities. The festive season is peppered with loads of sweet desserts that render your teeth more prone to cavities. In addition to sweet foods, soft drinks are typical at parties. Soft drinks are acidic, and combined with the high sugar content, makes them highly cariogenic (cavity-causing).
Wine drinking
Wine, a beverage synonymous with celebratory occasions, is well-known to have adverse dental effects. All wines are acidic and can cause acid erosion of teeth if drunk in excess. They also create an acidic environment in the mouth which can facilitate tooth decay in the presence of plaque and sugars. Generally speaking, white wine is more acidic than red wine. However red wine contains anthocyanins which stain the teeth, discolouring them over time.
It’s not too late!
As a New Year comes around, it is not too late to adopt some good dental habits and be kind to your teeth. Resetting your diet and lifestyle to include a good oral care regime will ensure that your dental health gets back on track. Be sure to brush twice a day and floss daily for optimum oral health and see your dentist once every 6 months.
Happy New Year from all of us here at Lindfield Fine Dentistry, and here’s to a Teething good start to 2020!