Top 5 Teeth Tips For Surviving Easter
Even in our house, where there are two dentists, with every passing year Easter seems to have become more and more about the chocolate! In my occasional ventures to the supermarket over the last couple of weeks – mask on, hand gel at the ready – I’ve struggled to resist the temptations that are bags of Mini Eggs (devoured in one sitting) and boxes of Creme Eggs (one is never quite enough anymore – surely they’ve made them smaller?) Check out below for our top 5 teeth tips for surviving Easter.
It feels like life is punctuated with events at which we and our kids overindulge on sweet treats – Christmas, Hallowe’en, birthdays… in fact the average Brit eats almost 9.5kg of chocolate per year and the UK is joint 4th in the chocolate eating world league!!
There is so much I could say about this and the effect it is having not just on dental health but on our overall health, but really, given the current state of affairs, who am I to jump on my soapbox and take your sweet treats away from you? We all need our little pleasures at the moment to get us through the day!
But what I will do is pass along a bit of advice on how to get through Easter weekend with minimal dental fallout!
Your Top 5 Teeth Tips For Surviving Easter
1.Choose Wisely
Not all sweet treats are the same. A creme egg has 6 teaspoons of sugar in it – that’s 26g of sugar (the whole thing only weighs 40g!). An adult’s recommended daily intake of sugar is 25g, so effectively if you eat one creme egg, that’s all your sugar for one day!
What?!!
Milk chocolate and white chocolate have a higher sugar content than dark chocolate, and eggs which are filled with gooey-sugary fondant definitely have the most!
Chewy sweets which stick around in your mouth are always going to be worse than something like chocolate, so in a hierarchy of Easter evilness, we find dark chocolate to be the best of a bad bunch!
2. Have Your Eggs for Pudding
As with all sweet treats, it’s better to save them to mealtimes. Grazing on them during the day means that your whole mouth is constantly under an acid attack and never has a chance to recover.
If you can imagine, when you eat something sweet, all the plaque in your mouth has a party on the sugar and then poos out acid, which then causes holes in your teeth! The fewer parties there are for the plaque in your mouth, the fewer problems there are for your gnashers. More parties = more problems, so try not to nibble on sweet things between meals.
3. Consider A Gift Instead
The more you give your kids chocolate at Easter the more they will expect it. I remember reading a report a few years ago which suggested that the average child would receive eight Easter eggs! Eight!! Things like little Easter craft kits, Easter colouring sheets or books can be great alternatives to chocolate and can also keep kids busy over the Easter holidays.
I’m looking at you, grandparents …
just because you’ve got dental implants from Coatbridge Family Dental Care, doesn’t mean your grandkids want them!😜
4. Drink Water
Drinking water after you eat something sweet helps to wash away any remnants of the treat and can stimulate your saliva, raining a little on the party the plaque is having in your mouth.
5.Brush Your Teeth, but Wait a While
It would seem to follow that brushing your teeth straight after your easter eggs would brush away all the chocolate and the plaque at the same time and be a win-win for your teeth.
BUT!
Remember all that acid the plaque was pooing onto your teeth? Well, it makes the surface of your teeth (the enamel) soft and brushing it with a toothbrush can cause more harm than good, so wait for 30 minutes after eating or drinking something sweet before you brush.
You Can Stop The Rot!
We all know it’s a little bit more difficult to see a dentist at the moment, but the good news is that tooth decay is a
100% preventable disease
– so there’s loads you can do to help yourself and your family.
If you’d like a little more info on looking after your teeth check our fab hygienist Laura’s “how to brush your teeth” videos on our website and one for your kids on our youtube channel.
Have a very lovely Easter and we hope to see you very soon.
Coatbridge Family Dental Care: a team who cares, the smile you want, dentists who listen.
Call our team on 01236 421103 or arrange a consultation.
Blog post written 29th Mar 2021
(Please note prices and information are correct at time of publishing and may be subject to change. Please contact us on 01236 421103 or info@coatbridgedentist.com for the most up-to-date pricing and information)