The New Year is upon us and we all know what that means. Lots of reflecting over the past year, fresh starts and New Year’s resolutions. Most resolutions are doomed to fail since people try to immediately implement major lifestyle changes as soon as the new year begins. Despite that reality, we’ve got a few potential resolutions that we think you’ll find a bit easier to integrate into your everyday life at whatever pace feels most comfortable to you. San Antonio Periodontics and Implants is here to provide you with the best information to maintain your dental health. We believe that a healthy smile goes a long way and some of these resolutions can be a benefit to you in more areas of your life than just one.
New Year’s Resolutions
1. Floss: We know, nobody likes to floss. It’s a hassle, it hurts, it takes too long, blah blah. The truth remains that you must floss at least once a day to maintain good dental health and the more you floss, the less your gums will hurt! Plus, by reducing your chances of getting gum disease, you’ll save yourself a lot of potential pain in the future. And if you’re worried about inconvenience, you can find dental floss picks, small plastic flossers, at your local grocery store that are much more convenient than normal floss. Now you don’t have any excuses, so get to flossing!
2. Eat healthy: This is one of those that doesn’t just apply to your dental health! Whether it be for weight loss or just healthy living, eating healthy foods will never be a bad thing. While it doesn’t just benefit your teeth, healthy eating still has a number of benefits for your oral hygiene. Consuming less sugars, carbs and acids helps to stifle plaque build up and tooth decay. Plus, healthy snacks like apples and carrots help to scrub the bacteria and food residue off your teeth. One way to cut back on unhealthy sugar intake is to replace your sugary treats with foods that include xylitol. Xylitol, a natural sugar alcohol that comes from birch tree bark and corn cobbs, has all the sweetness of sugar without the calories, carbs, and oral health drawbacks. While the bacteria in your mouth can digest sugar, producing a harmful acid that facilitates tooth decay, it cannot digest xylitol. So, the next time you want to help yourself to a sugary snack, maybe try a candy that contains xylitol to satisfy your sweet tooth!
3. Drink more water: Here’s another one that can be applied to more areas of your life than one. Water is so good for you! it is hydrating, flushes out toxins and promotes healthy weight loss and as far as your teeth are concerned, water helps in a lot of other ways. Drinking water can help to combat dry mouth, which occurs when your mouth is dried out of saliva. Saliva is needed to clean out your mouth of harmful bacteria. Water also aids saliva in washing out harmful bacteria itself. Health experts recommend that you drink about half a gallon of water each day for the healthiest living. So, throw out those carbonated, sugar-filled sodas that cause tooth decay, because water is where it’s at.
4. Quit smoking: Tobacco is incredibly harmful to your whole body, especially your oral health. Using tobacco products can, in extreme cases, even contribute to oral cancer. We realize this isn’t a thing most people can just quit overnight, but smoking cessation groups, these apps that aid in quitting smoking and support from your friends and family can help you to slowly but surely quit. Cutting this bad habit out of your life this year will exponentially improve your quality of life!
5. Limit alcohol: Like smoking, alcohol is linked to many different types of cancers, including oral cancer. Alcohol is also very acidic and corrosive, therefore it can damage your enamel and put you at a higher risk for tooth decay. You don’t have to stop drinking altogether, just limit excess drinking. Most experts recommend people keep it to one drink a day for a woman and two drinks a day for a man. By limiting your alcohol intake, you can ensure that your smile and your body are as healthy as ever!
6. Routine dental visits: Everybody should go to the dentist at least once every six months. Your dentist can help you to prevent diseases, check for early signs of diseases, make sure all of your teeth are growing in correctly and make sure you don’t have cavities, just to name a few things. You never know what might be going on in your mouth that you can’t see, so make sure you get a specialist’s opinion. And if you need advanced treatment, your dentist might refer you to a specialist like San Antonio Periodontics and Implants. If you have any issues with gum disease or need dental implants, we’re the place to go.
If you have any questions about these New Year’s resolutions, feel free to contact the San Antonio Periodontics and Implants staff. Also, it’s the new year, so check your calendar and check to see if you are in need of any periodontal-related treatment. Feel free to schedule an appointment with us today and have a wonderful 2019!
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