Holiday Party Tips

As the holiday season is rapidly approaching (two weeks until Thanksgiving!), it’s time to talk about how to keep your teeth in tip-top holiday shape! Regardless of whether you are out with friends, at home with your family or enjoying your holiday work party, enjoy these few tips from us to help your teeth stay healthy.

1. Choose light or clear beverages. Rather than a cola-based drink or a red wine, opt for a white wine or lighter color drink. This will help your teeth to stay whiter and brighter for the pictures that will, inevitably, follow. 

2. Find the Cheese! Almost every holiday party has a cheese tray. Not only does it taste great and help to tide you over until dinner, but the cheese will help to neutralize the pH level in your mouth while drinking acidic drinks like alcohol, soda or coffee. 

3. Schedule Your Post-Holiday Check-Up. The remainder of this year is going to fly by. We all know that. It’s better to schedule your first visit for 2019 now, so you don’t get caught up (as we all will) in the holiday festivities and forget to even make the call until after the New Year. Get your next preventative visit scheduled today!

And one more reminder: If you have insurance benefits remaining for 2018, you should try to use them now! Insurance benefits don’t usually carry over to the new year, so use them or lose them!

Halloween Dental Tips!

Let’s be honest, in the coming weeks, we are all going to be eating more than our fair share of Halloween treats. During this time, it is especially important that we are taking care of our teeth in the best way that we can. It also is a good idea to limit your treat-eating to a particular time of day and make sure you aren’t grazing on sugary treats all day long. Along with making sure you are eating a healthy diet throughout the day, here are some tips to make sure you are giving your teeth the care that they need.

1. Brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes each time. You’ve heard this one before. Consider buying yourself an electric toothbrush to help in brushing for the right amount of time and making sure you aren’t pushing too hard. 

2. Floss once a day! Remember that 33% of your tooth surface exists between your teeth and can only be cleaned by flossing!

3. Rinse! Using a mouthwash, or even water throughout the day, can help to rid your mouth of debris and return your mouth to a normal pH level. Using a fluoride rinse at night can help give your teeth a little boost during this extra-sweet Halloween season.

4. Visit your Dentist. We would venture to guess that the majority of us are OVERDUE for our preventative visit with our doctors. These should happen every 3-6 months, based on what your oral hygiene needs are. While this is always important, we think it’s even more urgent, as the end-of-the-year holidays are getting closer and we don’t want to be spending our holiday time in dental pain. Call today to take care of your teeth!

Preparing for Fall!

It’s about this time every year, where you are supposed to do a checklist of things to prepare your house for the changing of the seasons. Checking the gutters, changing the furnace filter and replacing batteries in your fire alarms are just a few examples. We think this is also a great time of year to do a few things to make sure your dental health is taken care of. 

1. Replace your toothbrush! Similar to replacing your furnace filter, it is time to get a new toothbrush! You should actually do this every 4 - 6 months to make sure you have the best tools to properly care for your teeth.

2. Eliminate one bad habit or start a good one. This is a great time of year to pick ONE thing that you know you need to work on and do it. Whether it is drinking less soda, flossing every day or eliminating sugary snacks throughout the day, start it now. If we begin implementing this now, we should have a good foundation to stay strong with this habit throughout the holiday season, which can be challenging.

3. Drink more water! We know pumpkin lattes are delicious, but be sure you are drinking water throughout the day to rinse your teeth of sugar and acid. In addition, as it gets colder and drier outside, we need more water! 

4. Check your insurance benefits. This is the time of year to see what you still have remaining in your dental insurance benefits so that you can maximize them. If you have been holding off on something, do it now, before the chaos of the holidays. Even if you don’t have benefits left, if you need dental treatment you should work out a way to get that done so that your mouth is in good health as the holidays approach. 

Use this time of year to get yourself prepared for the holidays, make the most of your dental benefits and set good oral hygiene habits!