The holidays are literally right around the corner and for most of us that is a good thing.  It usually means more time will be spent with either family or friends and generally at those gatherings good food and drinks are usually present.  It just is part of the American holiday tradition and I am a bit fan of it.  The one part of me that really isn’t a big fan is my mouth.  Usually, during this time of year, my dental hygiene suffers and it could even happen if I am doing a fairly good job at the normal habits I have for dental care.  This is all due to the extra substances we are putting in our mouth.  It can be a very hard and annoying situation which can have some drastically bad effects in the long term of your health.  So lets just go over some things to know and maybe do that I am going to implement into my holiday season to attempt to stay healthy.

Now this time of year I usually end up putting on about 5 pounds of weight due to all the extra calories consumed.  Part of this comes from what I am drinking in the mornings and that is because I am a basic sucker for those nice and warm pumpkin spice lattes.  It is a part of me that I just am annoyed that I love so much because it is a great way to start the morning when it is cool to cold out.  It brings me right into that Fall and Winter spirit, but it also brings some other bad things along with it.

The sugar and also the acidic and dark coffee color that is in those drinks are all working against my mouth.  It is an unfortunate issue and problem to have since I do love those drinks so much. But the extra sugar starts to break down my teeth and cause plaque to build up almost instantly.  The bigger issue is the acid from the coffee starts to eat away at my enamel as well and then the dark color of these yummy drinks stain my teeth.  So not only am I getting tooth decay issues but hurting my tooth brightness and smile as well.  It is a double no, no in the health book and I am sad about it.

It is not the end of the world thought, because there are a lot of things you can do to protect your mouth from all the harm those amazing drinks bring.  One of the easiest things to do is to keep a bottle of water around.  Drinking water right after this helps to rinse off those harmful bacterias and sugars.  It helps to keep your mouth clean and that is a very important thing.  It also helps to hydrate you.  This matters, because it keeps your mouth producing saliva.  Saliva is the main cleaner for your mouth.  It is like mouthwash but only natural. That is why it is so important to keep drinking water during this time of year. 

I keep a water bottle on me at all times and just refill it when I can. Most people think its coffee, but instead its just good healthy cleaning water.  So try drinking more water and maybe a few less specialty coffee this year.