Anyone who cares for their overall health would want to keep their teeth and gums healthy. Unfortunately, the lure of cakes, cookies, pies, and candy canes are hard to resist during the holiday season and can overwhelm your sensible choices. Your brushing and flossing game may be excellent during the regular season but the holidays can be an uphill battle. It is quite hard to take care of your teeth and gums with all the foods that can outright damage your teeth.
Holiday treats and drinks that damage and cause havoc on your dental health abound during the holiday season. It is high time that you watch out for these sugary treats and try to adapt a new holiday tradition that can help you keep those pearly whites strong and healthy.
Here is a list of foods that can damage your teeth the most to help you avoid them on parties and gatherings.
Eggnog. This holiday treat is ever present and is essential in every family gathering. Unfortunately, eggnogs are high in sugar content which is bad news for your teeth. It is also often mixed with alcohol that can dry up your mouth. Alcohol prohibits saliva production that is your body’s means to wash away food particles and bacteria away from the mouth. The sugar residue from eggnog can stay for long periods in your mouth that can lead to plaque formation and tooth decay.
Candy Canes. These holiday staples are loaded with sugar. Just imagine pure sugar being in contact with your teeth. The sugar itself isn’t what makes the candy cane dangerous for your teeth but the long period of time it takes to finish one. The damage of candy canes lie on the time it stays in your mouth. Try to avoid hard candies that take too long to eat. Cookies take less than a minute to eat and sugar free varieties are available.
Holiday Sugar Cookies. As mentioned by https://www.24hourdentistinlosangeles.com/, cookies can still be an issue if you choose to eat sugar cookies. The common sugar cookies during the holidays are bad for you. Take it from its name, it has sugar on it. Excessive consumption of sugar cookies will surely hasten tooth decay for you.
Potato Latkes. Pancakes aren’t really that bad for your dental health, it’s what’s on the side that can potentially get you. It is a common holiday tradition to dip potato latkes into sugar. Pure sugar can damage your teeth as oral bacteria feed on it and produce an acid by product simultaneously.
Caramel Popcorn. This holiday snack is again made into teeth damaging food with sugar. Dentists strongly identifies them as not one of the best foods for teeth. Caramel popcorn is really good and addictive even. Kids and adults could munch on them not realizing the amount they have already eaten. This exposes your teeth to sticky sugar that can even latch on your teeth for long periods of time.
The list could go on especially for people wearing orthodontics. Stay far away as possible and enjoy the holidays with healthier options.