Protecting Your Teeth Throughout The Fall and Winter Seasons

The excitement for a nice weather change and fun fall activities is no reason to forget the importance of good oral care. Extreme temperature changes are often accompanied by common illnesses that can be rough on the teeth. In addition, the holiday feasts and social gatherings are full of indulgent treats that may be hard to resist. Our Newington dentist wants to share a few tips to help you and your family prepare for the upcoming holiday season.

Don’t Forget Your Appointments
If you normally schedule a professional checkup with our Berlin dentist right before school starts then your next exam is due around the end of the year. It’s easy to forget about appointments that are set months in advance, especially with the added stress of the holiday season. Make sure that you prioritize the visit with the dentist Newington so that you don’t end up needing to reschedule at a later date.

Cold and Flu Side Effects
It’s very common for our emergency dentist to receive calls from patients that wake up with sudden tooth pain while suffering from a cold or flu. This symptom may cause alarm, but it’s usually nothing more than a sinus infection causing an aching feeling in the jaw. The best course of action is to increase water intake, take any medications prescribed by your family doctor, and get plenty of rest so that your body can recovery quickly.

Pay attention to your oral care habits when you do get sick because this is a time that many people neglect to brush and floss. Cough drops, liquid medications, and lemon tea are all substances that expose the teeth the unwanted acidity or sugar. Always rinse the mouth thoroughly with clean water to remove substances from the surface of teeth, switch to sugarless cough drops, and choose medications that are in pill form rather than a liquid.

Recommended Toothbrush Care
Switching to a new toothbrush every three to four months is an important rule that not all people remember to follow. When in the middle of cold and flu season, the bacteria hiding in your bristles could be the primary reason that you are getting ill more frequently. Your brush accumulates germs every single day that you use it to remove bacteria, and it also collects old saliva and blood. These substances mostly rinse away with water, but the contamination is impossible to avoid.

Our toothbrush tips:
• Never use the same brush for longer than four months, no matter how clean it may appear. Microorganisms are invisible to the naked eye, but they will continue to breed on a single brush until it’s thrown out.
• Reinfection is completely possible if you keep a toothbrush after recovering from a cold or the flu. The virus might be hiding in your bristles just waiting for an opportunity to get back into your system.
• Rinse the brush thoroughly with hot water after every single use, and store it upright so that the excess water settles toward the handle instead of in the bristles.
• Using a toothbrush cover is not necessarily as safe as placing it in an open cup, especially if the container is damp.
• If you rinse or soak the brush in mouthwash, always pour it out immediately instead of using it more than once.
• It’s never okay to share a toothbrush, no matter how thoroughly you clean it after each use. Oral infections spread easily through fluids, so it’s better to not brush at all than to risk exposing yourself to an illness or infectious disease.

Painful Temperature Changes
Avoiding hot or cold foods is a common habit for any individual that experiences regular sensitivity, but weather changes are impossible to control. A gust of chilly winter area can cause irritation or a sharp pain in an instant, and it’s important that you do something to remedy this issue. Our dentist Newington often recommends a special toothpaste to prepare sensitive teeth for the fall and winter seasons. This is ideal for those with worn enamel because the added surface protection is going to gradually decrease the feeling of sensitivity. The emergency dentist can use a filling, crown, or other restorative technique if one or more teeth end up damaged for any reason.

Harmful Holiday Meals
Parents tend to kick off the holiday festivities by sneaking a few pieces of Halloween candy, but don’t let this become a bad habit. Thanksgiving feasts often feature multiple sticky, sweet desserts and foods that are packed with bad carbohydrates. The Berlin dentist recommends limiting fat and sugars for a more balanced meal, especially if you tend to pile everything onto one plate. Make sure to include vegetables, dairy, and proteins that help your body and teeth overcome the less-than-healthy indulgences. It wouldn’t hurt to schedule a cleaning with our Newington dentist between Thanksgiving and Christmas to ensure that you’re in good shape for the approaching new year.