5 Dental Tips for Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Bring out the stretchy pants and get ready for that delicious Thanksgiving turkey and all the wonderful sides.  Dr. Elzbieta W. Basil, a family dentist and cosmetic dentist, with offices in West Hartford Center and Downtown New Britain, CT, shares some dental tips for the Holidays:

1. Come Prepared—Discretely Carry a Toothbrush and Floss
This is common sense. You already know you should brush and floss after meals.   But the type of foods we eat between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day tend to be sweet, starchy and sticky.  They contain the perfect ingredients to make the bacteria that causes tooth decay (Streptococcus mutans) celebrate along with us!  So indulge.  You deserve it.  But, don’t skip the brushing and flossing. After you’re done eating that second piece of pumpkin or pecan pie, take two minutes and brush your pearly whites.  It’s easy to carry a toothbrush and floss.

2. Open Nuts with a Nutcracker and Don’t Open Bottles with Your Teeth
It may sound funny now but how many people have you seen doing exactly that – using their teeth to crack open a nut or open a beer bottle?    I’m totally serious…I’ve actually seen somebody using their teeth to remove a stubborn champagne cork!  Take it from me, the average dental crown costs more than the average nut cracker, or bottle opener…so use them.

3. Don’t Bite Candy Canes and Avoid Sticky Sweets
After Thanksgiving, Christmas festivities begin and sweet treats like candy canes make their annual appearance.  Be wary of hard sticky sweets like caramelized popcorn balls or candy brittle. A popcorn seed, a candied nut, or a hard piece of sticky sugar can easily break a cusp off a molar or fracture that huge metal filling you’ve had in that back tooth since you were 10.

4. Don't Argue about Politics!
I'm on social media.  I see that tensions are high.  People are concerned that they'll have an argument with family members of a different political opinion than their own.  A punch or other blunt trauma to the mouth is still really bad for your dentition. ;-)

5. If  You Sustain Tooth Damage, Make An Appointment Right Away
If you break or chip a tooth, the worst thing to do is to wait and see if it gets better on its own.  It won’t.  And while most fractures or chips are easily fixed, delaying treatment might put you in a situation where the tooth can’t be saved.  We’re highly skilled at bonding to repair a chip or crack, and veneers, if that’s a more appropriate option.  If your old filling comes out, we can replace it with a tooth-colored filling, using state-of-the-art dental materials.  But if you wait a long time, you might be looking at a root canal and/or a crown or an implant. 

So do your best to preserve those precious, beautiful smile-makers.  But if something happens, make an appointment and we’ll fix you up fast.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Keep smiling,

 

Dr. Elzbieta W. Basil, DMD is a private practice dentist with offices in West Hartford Center and Downtown New Britain, Connecticut.  She is a Clinical Instructor at the UConn School of Dental Medicine, and has won several awards naming her regional “Best Dentist” and “Top Dentist.” She is an active member of the Connecticut State Dental Association and the American Dental Association. Tel: 860-561-2121