What are your New Year’s resolutions for this year? If you’re like many people, you might resolve to focus on your health and well-being, exercise more and eat better, or simply ditch bad habits that aren’t working for you. In fact in 2017, NBC reported that the most common New Year’s resolution was to get healthy. We think this is a great idea! However, when making those healthy resolutions, don’t forget to include your oral health!

A Healthy Body Means a Healthy Smile

As we’ve said in the past, the health of our smile goes beyond the surface. If you neglect your smile, this can increase your risk of pneumonia, heart disease, and dementia.

There are also the obvious benefits. A healthy mouth will allow you to chew and swallow your food properly, and a healthy set of chompers can be the boost forward that you need to tackle the year’s challenges with confidence. To avoid overwhelming yourself, start small and be consistent. Your teeth, and overall health, will thank you. Here are some simple dental resolutions to incorporate into your life this year.

Our Top 6 New Year’s Resolutions

1. Get Better at Brushing and Flossing. You already know you should be brushing twice and flossing once a day, but we also know it can be easy to slack off, especially when you’re tired or busy. Make it part of your morning and night routine to carve out a few minutes dedicated specifically to your teeth. This will help you form good habits naturally. Also remember to change out your toothbrush every 3 to 4 months and switch to a soft bristled brush if you haven’t already to prevent any unwanted damage to your teeth.
2. Break Bad Dental Habits. Most people have at least one bad habit that could be wrecking havoc on their teeth. Whether it’s biting your nails, consuming too many sugary foods and beverages, or smoking, make this year the year you stop. If needed, you can replace these habits with newer, healthy ones like eating more fruits and veggies or chewing sugar free gum.
3. Drink More Water. When your body is properly hydrated, your oral health will benefit. A crucial component of your oral health is efficient saliva production, since this liquid wonder rinses leftover food particles off of your teeth. Because water is a building block of saliva production, you can see why doubling down will help keep your oral health in top shape.
4. Visit Your Dentist Every 6 Months. It’s true, we love when you visit us in our office, but that isn’t the only reason we’re always pushing for six-month check-ups! We use x-rays to make sure there isn’t trouble brewing under the surface of your teeth, and those professional cleanings are the only way to remove tartar. By the way, if you make it to your twice-yearly checkups, you have a much lower chance of developing an issue that will require more intense treatment, such as a root canal or filling.
5. Whiten Your Smile. While whitening your teeth is a cosmetic procedure, it can give you a tremendous boost of self-esteem. When your teeth are a dazzling shade of white, you won’t be able to stop smiling, and what a way to start the year! Learn more about our whitening services.
6. Smile More! Did you know laughing actually helps burn extra calories? There are many benefits to laughing and smiling more, but the greatest one is how they boost positive feelings in yourself and others. So make it a point to smile more often and spread positivity in your daily life.

Happy New Year from all of us at Alrez Family Dentistry!

Swimming is a wonderful summer activity. It gives the whole family a chance to spend time together in the great outdoors, having fun while getting some exercise, too! Now that summer is winding down, many of us will be giving the swimming pool a final farewell with a long, fun-filled day in the water.

We’re lucky that pools are chlorinated. If they weren’t, swimming pools would be pretty gross! Chlorine helps keep our family safe from the germs that can make us sick. However, chlorine isn’t harmless, particularly to our teeth.

Dental Issues With Chorine Exposure

Chorine works by making the water acidic, which kills germs. However, exposure to acidic substances can also be harmful to your pearly whites. Acids tend to reduce our saliva production, and believe it or not, saliva is essential to your oral health! By rinsing off your teeth and neutralizing acids, saliva protects your enamel and prevents germs from hanging around.

Reduced saliva production will leave you vulnerable to issues like:

1. Decay and Gum Disease: When your saliva production is reduced, germs have greater opportunity to multiply, since they aren’t being rinsed away efficiently.
2. Tooth Sensitivity: The acid in the pool water can weaken the nerves in your gums, resulting in sensitivity to hot and cold foods. Since saliva helps to neutralize acids, it’s one of the factors helping prevent this.
3. Stained Teeth: Since saliva isn’t there to wash stain-causing substances from your teeth, they stick on your teeth for longer periods of time, increasing the likelihood that they will cause staining. (Check out our past blog post on how to avoid tooth staining!)

Does This Mean I Should Stop Swimming?

Absolutely not! There’s no need to give up your favorite summer pastime, as long as you follow these tips and encourage your family to do the same:

• Bring a toothbrush with you to the pool, and give your pearly whites a nice brush as soon as you finish your swim.
• Stay hydrated, which you should be doing anyway, especially when exerting yourself in the summer sun. The more water you drink, the better your salivary glands will function.
• When you’re underwater, keep your mouth shut! Also, make sure your children know not to drink pool water.

We hope you enjoy these last few weeks of summer with your family!

If you love to drink coffee, tea, wine, or cola, you may have noticed that there’s a negative to these tasty drinks–they can stain your teeth.

Even though these stains are medically harmless, many people find them unattractive. Choosing between your morning coffee and non-yellow teeth sounds like a huge bummer but don’t worry, it’s not necessary.

All you need to do is employ some simple tricks and you can enjoy your favorite foods and beverages while keeping your pearly whites pearly and white!

Beverages and Foods that Can Cause Tooth Staining

A good rule of thumb is that if a food stains your hands or t-shirt, there’s a good chance it will do the same to your teeth. Some common foods that cause staining are:

• Tomato sauce
• Blueberries
• Beets
• Soy sauce
• Dark beverages like tea, coffee, cola, red wine, grape juice, and cranberry juice

After looking over a list of foods that yellow your teeth, it may be comforting to know that there are yummy foods out there that have the opposite effect! Check out this recent post for more information about foods that whiten teeth.

Five Methods for Cutting Down on Staining

You can still enjoy the foods and drinks you love, without resolving yourself to a life of yellow teeth. Putting these tips to use can go a long way toward reducing the staining effects.

1. Throw in Sips of Water: Each time you take a sip of wine, coffee, tea, cola, or juice, take a sip of water. This helps to rinse your teeth between sips. Plus, this can counteract the dehydrating effects of alcohol and coffee.
2. Keep Your Mouth Clean:  In addition to removing the substance that causes staining, keeping your mouth clean with twice daily brushing and daily flossing removes plaque. This substance creates a sticky surface for the stain-causing foods and drinks to grab on to. Brushing again after eating a stain-causing food is a good idea, however, you should wait 30 minutes. Since most of these foods are acidic, your mouth needs time to return to its normal PH balance. Brushing while the PH in your mouth is acidic can cause damage.
3. Use a Straw: This can prevent the stain-causing beverage from ever touching your teeth.
4. Make it to Your Dentist’s Office Twice a Year: As plaque sits on your teeth, it eventually hardens into tartar. This substance makes your teeth yellow and dull, and it can only be removed during a professional cleaning.
5. Avoid Smoking: In case you needed another reason to quit smoking, using tobacco products seriously yellows your teeth.

What If It’s Too Late?

These tips will help prevent staining, but they won’t remove tooth stains you already have. Fortunately, professional whitening treatments can! Click here to learn more about the whitening services we have available.