Looking After Your Smile This Easter
For many, Easter is a time to indulge in chocolate eggs and sweets. Supermarket aisles are brimming with Easter eggs, ready to be consumed over the holidays. However, amidst the festivities, it’s crucial to maintain proper dental care.
Taking the proper precautions can safeguard your oral health during the Easter season. Here are some of our recommendations for looking after your smile this Easter.
Limit Sweet Treats
Unwrap your eggs and enjoy them as a post-dinner treat on Easter Sunday rather than grazing on chocolate throughout the day. Constant snacking on chocolate and sweets produces damaging acids that attack your tooth enamel. However, by indulging in your chocolate all at once, you reduce the time that sugar stays on your teeth, decreasing the likelihood of tooth decay.
Drink Water After Chocolate
After eating your chocolate eggs, drink water to rinse away any residue left on your teeth. It also stimulates saliva production, which counteracts the harmful acids created by the sugar in the chocolate egg you just savoured.
Drinking plenty of water throughout the day also provides many additional health advantages. It helps boost energy levels, improves digestion, promotes blood circulation, eliminates toxins, and revitalises skin complexion. A healthy, balanced diet with plenty of Vitamin C is also beneficial for your gum health.
Avoid Hard, Sticky Sweets
If you also love to indulge in sweets during Easter, you’ll want to avoid those hard, sticky ones. Sweets with a sticky texture can become lodged between teeth, making them difficult to remove. This can prolong the sugar’s exposure to your enamel. Patients have also been known to lose fillings from chewing on toffees or to chip their teeth while biting hard sweets. Ideally, it’s better to stick to chocolate, with dark chocolate being the healthiest choice because of its lower sugar content.
Use Fluoride Toothpaste and Floss
Make it a habit to brush your teeth using fluoride toothpaste twice each day and floss regularly. Using interdental brushes between the teeth before brushing is a healthy bedtime routine. This helps to protect the enamel, keeping the teeth strong. Sugary snacks weaken the enamel, and brushing right away might cause further erosion. You should also brush after consuming sweets and chocolate but remember to hold off for at least 30 minutes.
Book a Dental Hygiene Appointment
Regular visits to your dentist and dental hygienist will help maintain your teeth and keep them in prime condition. They will clean away any soft plaque build-up on your teeth and give you advice on your homecare routine. They can also suggest treatments tailored to keep your teeth strong and healthy.
Book a dental hygiene appointment to protect your smile and keep your teeth healthy this Easter. You could even invest in a whitening treatment to eliminate staining and improve your smile.
Call us on 0117 472 1600 to book an appointment with a friendly dental hygienist today.