Oral Care During Festive Season

Festivals are synonymous with feasting. The Festival season is always marked by good food, sweets, and a sense of euphoria along with exchanging gifts. There is a feel of festivity in the atmosphere with people sharing their joy, merry songs in the spirit of the festival and decorating their homes and surroundings with colorful lights. Food plays a big part in these celebrations, and often caught up in the festive spirit people forget to observe caution and binge on food and sweets. People look forward to big treats such as homemade sweets, laddoos, Mysore pak, jalebi, chocolates, etc. This splurge in the festive season is often responsible for the resulting tooth decay, toothache, and other such dental problems.

The festive season is an excuse to stuff them with food. While they worry about their bulging waistlines, they completely disregard the effect that sweets or snacks can have on their teeth. Dental hygiene is one area that one should be wary of during the festive season. Sweets, cakes and snacks contain a generous amount of sugar which is the main cause of tooth decay. The aerated drinks that are included along with the feast in the festive meals are acidic and cause severe tooth erosion. These two things work in sync and affect the health of your teeth. The sugary foods deteriorate and decay the teeth while acidic drinks cause erosion of the protective covering – thus making the teeth soft targets for attack by bacteria. It is advised that you do not eat/binge between meals. It is better to eat sweets with the meals rather than eating them between meals. This step helps by allowing your teeth to re-mineralize and recover after a meal has been consumed. Make sure you use a dentist recommended mouthwash after every meal. This helps protect the teeth against plaque and foul smell/halitosis.

People with the history of tooth decay can follow a few tips to prevent further damage which are:-

• Sugar-free gum or mints can help keep your mouth busy when faced with sugary temptations.
• Chocolate – especially dark varieties – in moderation, can offer health benefits and is less likely to stick to teeth when frozen.

Since systemic diseases like diabetes and hypertension/high Blood Pressure go hand in hand, people with the history of these diseases need to make sure that they keep their blood sugar level under control, failing which they will be at a very high risk of dental caries, early gum disease [gingivitis], and advanced gum disease [periodontitis]

It is also important that you brush your teeth at least twice on a daily basis and use the right brushing technique such as the bass/modified bass brushing technique, followed by flossing and usage of prescribed mouthwashes. Kindly visit us at any one of our Dental Centres in case of any kind of dental problem or for a thorough dental assessment.

Courtesy Dr. Vignesh N, Apollo Dental, Puducherry.