This is Easter will be different than any other for all of us. I was due to be going to Spain with my family for a week. Over Easter, usually we meet friends and family members and an ongoing tradition is exchanging Easter eggs. This won’t be happening this year. One upside, is maybe people will be having less Easter eggs and treats which are bad for your teeth.
What is likely to happen is that most people this year, will simply buy Easter eggs for themselves – that’s what we will be doing and yes we do have chocolate in my house (me included!)
Here are 5 tips to help keep your family’s teeth healthy this Easter and for the future. This is more important than ever before as with dental practices closed for routine appointments for the foreseeable future, you really want to avoid having dental emergency.
1) Ensure Regular and Thorough Brushing
Children (and adults) are not always fond of brushing their teeth and will sometimes go to great lengths to avoid it. Help them understand the importance of twice-daily brushing with books, colouring pages, videos, and anything else you think will help. Children need to be brushing their teeth as much if not more than they usually do when Easter treats are abundant.
2) Drink Water After Sweets and Treats
Water flushes away food particles that work with mouth bacteria to form decay-causing acids. Serve water with Easter sweets and encourage your children to drink it as they eat chocolate bunnies and other sweets. Wait at least 30 minutes after eating before advising the children to brush their teeth to avoid brushing acids into tooth enamel.
3) Avoid Snacking Throughout The Day
For the teeth, it is best to have sweet treats all at once and ideally after meals. The more frequent sweet things are eaten and drunk, the higher the frequency of acid within the mouth which is more damaging to the teeth. Also, please avoid sweets late at night and close to bedtime.
4) Avoid Sticky and Hard Sweets of Chocolates These should be avoided as firstly they can get stuck in the teeth and be more difficult to clean away. Also, these foods could increase the risk of breaking a tooth or dislodging a filling
5) Avoid Sweets Close To Bedtime Sweets and chocolates should be avoided late in the evening and certainly should not be consumed after brushing in the evening. When we go to sleep, there is much less saliva present in the mouth. Saliva protects the teeth and reduces the amount of acid present in the mouth, so the teeth are more prone to damage and decay if sweet things are had late at night.
If you need further help or advice, please give us a call on 020 88884401.
