Often we find ourselves snacking throughout the holidays instead of sitting down for 3 regular meals. Your waistline may be the most noticeable victim to this holiday tradition, but your teeth are suffering as well. This holiday season try some of these tricks to keep your teeth healthy while still enjoying all of the treats the holiday season has to offer.



Limit Snacking

One of the worst parts of snacking throughout the holiday season is the fact that the sugars from your food remain on your teeth. When the bacteria metabolize the sugars they produce acid which eats away at your tooth enamel. To help prevent against this, the best thing you can do is to limit your snacking. We know that this can be hard to do, so if you just can’t help yourself; choose tooth friendly foods and chew xylitol gum between holiday parties or snack times.

Eat “Tooth Friendly” Foods

A good “tooth friendly” food that you may find at most of those holiday parties is cheese. Cheddar, swiss and mozzarella cheeses help stimulate saliva production in your mouth which helps clear your mouth of debris. Saliva also provides a strong protective film on your teeth. Other foods that can help your teeth include nuts and fruits. Just remember to follow up with some water.

Drink Water

Fact: water is one of the best things you can drink! Not only is it good for your overall health, it also helps wash debris out of your mouth and can help neutralize the acid in your mouth.

Carry Floss

Contrary to what you think, don’t carry a toothbrush around with you and brush between snack times. The acid build up combined with the abrasive action of brushing your teeth will cause erosion of your tooth enamel. Instead bring floss with you and floss between snacks. This helps keep the spaces between your teeth clean. It also helps remove the bacteria from hidden spaces that can’t be flushed out just by drinking water.

Stay Away From Hard Candies

If you just can’t resist the sweets, try to stay away from the hard candies. Biting down on a hard candy or cracking a nut shell is the surest way to land yourself at our Evanston dental office with a cracked or chipped tooth. Also, as most hard candies are long lasting, your teeth are exposed to sugar for a prolonged period of time resulting in more sugar for the bacteria to metabolize.

Most importantly, remember to have a good time this holiday season! If an emergency does come up, you can call our office. We will be open December 26th through the 28th this year.

The post How to Get Through Holiday Snacking with Healthy Teeth appeared first on Stephens Dentistry.