Captivate Dental Tips: 6 Tips For Keeping Your Teeth Healthy During Easter
Captivate Dental love the holidays, including Easter, as much as anyone else!
But the bounty of the holiday can sometimes be dangerous for your teeth.
The fact is that some holiday treats are bad for you and your smile.
Easter brings these unhealthy treats in basketfuls, and it is best to be prepared, which is why Captivate Dental offers you the following six tips to maintain your oral health over the Easter holidays.
Our Tips For Keeping Your Teeth Healthy During Easter
- Choose your sweets carefully. Limit your consumption of sweets that are hard or sticky. While jellybeans, Peeps, caramels, and lollipops are tasty, they are also threats to your teeth. These treats tend to stay/stick in your mouth, leaving your teeth exposed to sugar for a more extended period. They can also pull out or crack fillings or dental appliances. Hard and sour candies are often high in acid, which also attacks your tooth enamel.
- No grazing. Munching on candies all day expands your waistline while it diminishes your teeth. About 20 minutes after eating, your saliva begins to neutralise acids excreted by oral bacteria. Each time you eat, those acids are excreted, and your saliva has to struggle to deal with them. If you can, eat crunchy food like a carrot or apple after you have something sweet. The fibre and liquid in the apple will help keep your teeth clean and freshen your breath. Wait a few hours between meals to keep your teeth in optimal condition, and eat your sweets with a meal, if possible.
- Distract kids! It’s very easy for children to believe that Easter is all about candy, but it is possible to divert them from that idea. Here are some ideas for an Easter basket that is tooth friendly:
- Art supplies – Paints, crayons, playdoh and other colourful and fun supplies can keep your child away from too much sugar while they work on their artistic skills.
- Trail mix is a healthy alternative to candy (in fact you can include some candy in it) that tastes great and is fun to share. Include bunny-shaped crackers to reflect the spirit of the season!
- Yogurt covered cranberries or raisins – Sure, they contain some sugar, but they are far better for you than candy.
- Books with bilbies or Easter pop to mind, as do books with dental themes. But the classics like Dr Seuss books are always a great gift that will be there long after the last candy is forgotten.
- A colourful new toothbrush – Now is a good time to remind and reinforce good oral health habits with your kids – if you kids can brush by themselves, consider an electric toothbrush, which they will find new and exciting.
- Practice good dental hygiene. As always, you should brush twice a day and floss at least once. Be sure to brush your teeth gently, with a soft-bristled toothbrush.
- Control the effects of candy. You can minimise that acid attack by the bacteria by doing a few things when you eat candy.
- Swish vigorously with water after eating meals or candy. Water is saliva’s friend as it sluices away food debris and sugars that bacteria love to eat.
- Separate your candy eating periods. Eating more candy in one sitting is better than spreading the sweets out over hours or days. If your teeth are going to be exposed to sugars and acids, make sure the period of time is as short as possible.
- Wait to brush. With all that acid in your mouth, you’ll want to wait to brush and floss for at least 30 minutes to one hour, depending on how much water you’ve had to neutralise the acid. Enamel is strong, but it wears away with acid, and brushing with all that acid in your mouth could easily wear away more enamel.
- Chew sugarless gum. Sugarless gum helps your saliva neutralise acids in your mouth and also removes food particles from your mouth.
Visit Captivate Dental!
This is the most obvious one. You should see us at least twice a year, and if you haven’t seen us yet this year, the Easter holiday is an excellent reason to come in.
We’ll be happy to give you an examination and cleaning, which should help deal with anything that Easter candy might have done to your oral health.
Complete Dental Care at Captivate Dental!
Visit you Cheltenham dentist today!
Captivate Dental is conveniently located in Cheltenham near Brighton (near Kingston City Hall and Cheltenham Station).
We provide the highest quality care and enable patients to make informed choices. Our competent, caring staff offers value through excellent diagnostic skills and effective use of the best quality materials.
Captivate Dental provides a wide variety of preventative and cosmetic dental treatment for kids, seniors, and everyone between!
Cheltenham dentist is also serving local communities in Bentleigh, Highett, Hampton East, Cheltenham and Brighton East.
Call us on (03) 9553 1249 or book your appointment online. We are located at 36 Chesterville Road in Cheltenham.