Dental Health vs. Looks

In the current age of beauty and looks and facades, it probably comes as no surprise to anyone in America that people want straight teeth that are white not because of health, but primarily because of how they look. Now, at a certain level of understanding this mentality, I don’t find it that harmful considering that people are still ultimately improving the health of their teeth overall. I mean, more power to you if you can get a healthy mouth as a side effect of focusing on your image more than anything.

The problem I find with it, though, is the amount of shaming and distaste that comes along with image-first dental care. For example, I have quite healthy teeth and know others who do the right things for their teeth, yet there are some imperfections that exist from not having braces as a child or from other things, like trauma, unrelated diseases and conditions, and other things.

What’s unfortunate for some of these people is that those with “perfect” (putting this in quotes for now since I don’t believe perfection is needed in the looks of one’s teeth) teeth are often quick to write off others with “worse” teeth based on looks alone. While straight teeth that are white denote that they’re healthy, there’s nothing to say that uneven teeth aren’t also healthy. And that’s where the problem arises with people who date, have friends they frown upon, or other things like job interviews.

 

I think if we all celebrated healthy teeth as something to strive for, rather than the image of our teeth, we’d see less of this misunderstanding happening, be it on dates, interviews, or among friends.

Now, I will say that while looks don’t determine health that much, smell definitely does. If you meet someone whose breath smells pretty bad, there’s likely more going on than just the garlic they recently ate. While it’s possible that it’s something else, bad breath almost always comes back to poor dental health and gingivitis, something I can commiserate with considering my childhood spent not flossing. Nonetheless, you can’t be faulted for judging someone based on the smell of their breath opposed to the looks of their teeth.

Overall, it’s fine to be worried about how your teeth look if you think it improves your own visage, but focusing on the health aspects are far more important. You should look at the perfection aspect as a great side effect to the health aspects rather than the reverse.

Avoid These Foods If You’ve Got Braces!

The technology we have of braces has gotten better and better as time goes on, but sometimes there are still things you just won’t be able to change about them, and the number one thing that falls under that category is the types of food you shouldn’t eat when having braces.

And if this all revolved around just food getting caught in your braces and it being annoying, that would be fine. That’s not the problem, though. It’s because food can actually damage your braces, the wires, or the rubber bands. Luckily, if you simply steer clear of sticky foods and anything else that is really hard or too chewy, you should be just fine.

Let’s take a look at the biggest banes of braces everywhere.

Hard candies

These are sticky. They’re chock full of sugar. They can break teeth because of how hard they are. There’s just not much good going for these candies outside of being tasty to your kids. It’s best to keep these away from your kids even if they don’t have braces but especially so if they do.

Popcorn

You probably hear this all the time, but popcorn is the best at getting stuck between not only braces but teeth in general. Just avoid popcorn during the time being or try your darndest to chew it on the sides of your mouth if possible. (But really, staying away from it is likely your best option.)

Ice

Even though this isn’t sticky and won’t “mess up” your braces because of its chemical makeup, ice is super hard and super cold, meaning it’s quite easy to “freeze” your rubber bands and then damage them when you’re chewing on hard ice.

Corn chips & hard crackers or cookies

These are junk food anyway, so first off, you may as well try to get rid of this in your diet in general. But also, they’re hard enough to dislodge or break braces rubber bands, get stuck in between your braces and teeth, or chip away at some of the wiring within your braces.

Gum

Gum is probably the worst at getting in between your braces and messing things up royally. If there’s any item on this list that you should remove from what you eat or chew on, it’s gum. If you need a fresh breath for any reason at all, get yourself some mints and eschew the chewing gum.

How to Rid Yourself of a Dry Mouth

Do you ever feel like your mouth is dry as absolutely possible and the only thing that would seem to help is to constantly drink water?

A dry mouth can occur for a multitude of reasons, though elderly folks are more susceptible to having a dry mouth simply because it’s a side effect of a lot of medications. And since dry mouth can prevent saliva from doing its main job,, rinsing away bacteria that you don’t want, it’s common for plaque to be more of a nuisance for older adults. Unfortunately, this can mean rapid tooth decay.

We figured we’d provide a few quick ways to combat dry mouth, but before we delve in, there’s another reason people get a very dry mouth, and I’m included in that reason. That would be sleeping with your mouth open.

There are actually quite a few reasons why some sleep with their mouth open: sleep apnea, blocked nasal passages, stress, and irregular nasal passage (typically in need of surgery) are the most common causes.

Let’s dive into a few ways to alleviate having a dry mouth.

Drink even more water

Duh, right? Water is what makes life possible, it’s what makes us tick. The more you can hydrate your body with, the less your mouth will be needlessly dry. Water directly helps out your saliva production, which will negate all of that dry mouth.

Get a humidifier

This has got to be one of the most single useful things I’ve ever discovered in dealing with a dry mouth, and this is the truest at night. If you can place a few more humidifiers around the house and not just your bedroom, you’ll really be thanking yourself.

Over the counter moisturizers

Easy to get, cheap enough, and super useful, oral moisturizers do their job and they do it well. You may find them as mouthwashes or as sprays, but both work quite well. When you feel your mouth start to become dry, don’t hesitate to use one of these. It’s easy enough and does what it’s supposed to.

Steer clear of coffee, alcohol, or acidic juices.

Alright, you’re gonna drink all of these from time to time. But the more you drink of one, the drier your mouth becomes. Get hooked on water and other less acidic drinks if you want to stand a chance at fighting against dry mouth! You’ll be surprised at how much these actually make a difference.