December is a joyous month. It’s a time of laughter, a time of cheer; it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Oh, wait. Is that a song? Sorry! No copyright intended – just a corny pun. Anyway, this month is certainly filled with celebrations and do you know what’s never absent from these sorts of festivities? Food – nice, scrumptious, delectable, and crazy delicious food.
People eat when they are happy and become happy when they eat (read more). It is never an exaggeration to say that gorgeous tasting food is our ultimate happy pill. This is why whenever the holiday season rolls around, people start getting their bellies ready. They are sure to have a good fill one way or another, after all! What they do forget to prepare for, however, is the after care.
While eating lots and lots of food is surely a dream and it’s not the kind of activity that’ll break any laws, you should know how to clean up afterward. And I’m not just talking about the pots and pans, plates, or utensils. Aside from cleaning up the kitchen and dining area, you should also take great care of your food processing area – aka your mouth.
You heard that right. Aside from the storm of dishes, you would have to tediously put away when the holiday season is over, you should also give your dental care some attention. Surely, you’ve been munching on a lot of goodies at a lot of year-end parties, so your body’s built-in food processing unit is probably worn out and tired from all the chewing.
If you’re not careful, some of those chompers might fall off one by one already! So be sure to have them checked out. In order to help you take care of the aftermath, the Graf Family Dentistry St. Matthews decided to list down some of the things you should do to ensure that your precious pearly whites remain safe amidst the festivities.
Let’s all be mindful of our own actions and remember to have fun in moderation. Let’s be responsible enough to not let our teeth rot from feasting nonstop.
Anyway, here are some dental health practices you shouldn’t forget this holiday season:
Drink A Glass Of Water After Each Heavy Meal
We like to call this processing “flushing” because you’re basically flushing your mouth with the water. I’m not saying you should gargle and then swallow; that’s just gross. You can just drink water normally. It helps clean your palate, tongue, and important areas of the teeth as well as your throat.
This will help residues of food and alcohol come down to your stomach and is also a good way to keep the acidity levels in your belly at bay. If you’re too comfortable chugging down a glass of water right after you eat, you may also just gargle it and spit it out after (excuse yourself from the table first, of course). This will help cleanse your oral cavity from food particles that may be stuck in places you can’t see.
When food stays for a prolonged period of time in the mouth, it causes the acidity level to rise. This type of environment is what bacteria love most so you can be sure that they’d be taking their time multiplying there. Flushing can help reduce this threat.
Brush & Floss At Least Twice Daily (Or In-between Meals If You Can)
Of course, just drinking a glass of water won’t fix everything. You still have to brush and floss as you should every day. In fact, you should do it more thoroughly this time since you’re practically wearing out your teeth to an alarming extent.
Brush your teeth at least twice daily for two minutes. Floss after your heavy meals to get the chunks of food stuck in-between teeth. Doing this will help you avoid the worst case scenarios. Check this out
On that note, don’t get too drunk that you won’t even know what a toothbrush would look like even if it jabbed you in the face!
Use Mouthwash Before You Go To Bed
Mouth-washing isn’t exactly something people do when they’ve already brushed their teeth in the morning or at night. People usually think of mouthwash as a last resort – like, when they go on a date and forgot to brush their pearly whites. People tend to think that mouthwash is just to improve the freshness of breath.
Well, there’s more to mouthwash than just that.
Mouthwash is actually made to fight off oral bacteria that do not just exist on the teeth. Even if you brush your teeth, some areas of the tongue, palate, inside cheeks, and even throat may still have a lot of bacteria feasting on them.
This is why it is important that you rinse the oral cavity with mouthwash. This ensures total coverage; it can even reach places in-between teeth since it’s liquid. Make sure to rinse your mouth with some mouthwash before you go to bed after a great feast.
Schedule A Visit To The Dentist Soon After The Holidays Are Over
Unfortunately, the holiday season is fleeting and it will be over before you know it. Although it’s a bummer, it also means that your good old chompers can take a break from everything. During this time, it would be wise to find an opportunity to recharge your teeth a little, give them a nice new shine. The best way to do this is to pay your dentist a visit.
Schedule yourself for a deep cleaning after the festivities are over. It’s a great way to remove built-up plaque underneath the gums and refresh your oral cavity for more binge eating sessions in the upcoming months. Be sure to check back every 6 months for regular cleaning sessions though!