With Halloween days away and the festive holiday season approaching, we thought it important to share our go-to dental tricks for maintaining healthy teeth. We know the month of October is practically candy month and the road to the new year from this point is filled with tempting treats and delectable dishes. As much as we love to indulge, it’s important to respect your body, your diet, and your teeth.
TRICK #1: TREATS AREN’T CREATED EQUAL
There are so many types of candy and some happen to be much easier on your teeth than others. We recommend steering away from hard candy and candies that are sticky. Why? Hard candy and sticky candy can cause damage to your teeth lingering in your mouth for extended periods of time which can contribute to tooth decay—not to mention there’s the potential of cracking or even chipping your teeth when biting down to break up the hard candy. Additionally, the sugar found in these candies is more acidic which is hard on your enamel.
Chocolates or chocolates with nuts tend to be an easier candy to break down. The darker the better. Chocolate candy that has nuts like almonds or peanuts have the tendency of breaking up the stickiness of chocolate helping to remove it from your teeth.
TRICK #2: TIMING IS OF THE ESSENCE
If you’re planning on indulging, be sure to plan that sweet treat just after meal-time. This will help to cancel out bacteria-produced acids and will help to rinse away food. Snacking on candy throughout the day will only maintain the presence of bad bacteria and acidity in your mouth resulting in further decay. That said, if you’re easily tempted, keep your stash out of sight and off your mind until after mealtime.
TRICK #3: HYDRATE
Water helps us break down foods and flush out toxins from our body. The same goes with candy. The good ‘ol 8 glasses of water a day rule of thumb will help to rinse the bad bacteria from our mouths and help us stay hydrated.
TRICK #4: KEEP IT CLEAN
Brushing twice a day AND flossing is extra important when you’re upping your sugar intake. Protect your enamel while brushing away acids and bad bacteria, by doing this you can also help to prevent your teeth from staining.
Hopefully, these dental tricks for healthy teeth will help you to keep your teeth from looking ghostly! We hope you have a safe and happy Halloween!
