The holiday season is here again, and it’s bringing parties, gift-giving, and plenty of delicious foods to help people celebrate the occasion. Unfortunately, many traditional holiday treats are heavy on sugars that can feed the oral bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease. Indulging too liberally in certain seasonal favorites and neglecting to properly care for your teeth can cause lasting harm to your oral health. Here are a few tips to help you celebrate the holidays without dealing with any dental destruction.

Give Yourself the Gift of Excellent Oral Hygiene

Though he might leave you a shiny new toothbrush and a fancy electric water pick under the tree, Santa isn’t going to take a break from delivering presents to brush your teeth for you. Taking proper care of your mouth is something you have to do for yourself, and doing so carries benefits that will last you throughout your life. A proper oral hygiene regimen includes:

• Brushing thoroughly: Brushing can eliminate most of the plaque and food debris that stick to your teeth. Using a soft-bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste, clean every surface of your teeth using gentle, short, circular motions. Do this at least twice a day for two minutes each time.
• Floss regularly: Flossing is equally important to brushing because it can clean the spaces where a toothbrush cannot reach. Floss each space between your teeth at least once daily, preferably before bed.
• Rinse with antibacterial mouthwash: Dentists recommend using this stuff as part of a daily hygiene routine. Antibacterial mouthwash can kill more than 99% of the germs that cause oral infections and leave your mouth feeling fresh, minty, and classy.

Watch Your Sugar Intake

The bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease are very naughty little germs, so it’s important to make sure that you aren’t giving them any presents over the holidays. Sweets like cookies and candy canes are full of the sugars that these harmful microbes love, and consuming too much of them without cleaning your teeth will give them the fuel they need to multiply rapidly and wreak oral havoc. Soda is perhaps the greatest nemesis of dentistry to emerge in the past two centuries because it delivers a heavy payload of cavity-causing acids and sugars. Hot chocolate isn’t much better.

To keep your smile looking great, opt for teeth-friendly snacks like fruit, cheeses, lean meats, and veggies. While it’s fine to enjoy sweets once in a while, you might want to have a tall glass of water alongside them to help wash them away from your teeth and promote healthy saliva flow. Be sure to clean your teeth properly before and after.

By taking these tips to heart, you can celebrate these festive times of year without harming your smile. Taking care of your teeth over the holidays will keep them healthy into the new year and beyond.

About the Author

Dr. Arindam Kakkar graduated from the New York University College of Dentistry in 2006, where he was elected into membership with the Omicron Kappa Upsilon dental honor society. He has since spent hundreds of hours taking continuing education classes to stay on top of the latest developments in the dental field. His office in Hackettstown, NJ offers general, restorative, cosmetic, and emergency dentistry. For more information on keeping your teeth healthy during the holidays, contact the office online or dial (908) 850-0005.