Spring clean your sparklies after CNY!
Friday, March 01, 2013 - Posted by SunnyHealth - 0 comments


Considering how much potential damage sweet treats can do to your teeth, it’s a wonder that clinics are often packed with patients after Chinese New Year, but there is little talk about visiting the dentist.

In fact, according to an interview by Lianhe Zaobao, there is usually a 25-50% increase in number of people who go to the dentists after the festive season. Coating one’s teeth with sugar and sticky sweet substances has afterall never been healthy for teeth, and traditional Chinese New Year goodies, as well as sweet carbonated drinks often used for serving guests, are famed for their high levels of sweetness.

But dental problems do not stop at potential cavities from these sugary treats. Considering how hard some of the goodies are, this gives rise to trauma and damage to teeth and gums. Common problems include tooth sensitivity, tooth cracks and fractures, and even wisdom tooth problems when the area around the wisdom tooth becomes inflamed. Furthermore, during the Chinese New Year holidays when people are consuming food and drinks continuously at different social settings, the acidity level is retained in the mouth. Acid is harmful for the teeth as it leads to corrosion of the enamel.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the harm done to teeth usually do not show up overnight. In the case of tooth cracks, there are no symptoms, and they will only be detected at a thorough dental examination. If further stress is applied to the tooth, a tooth fracture could occur, and that leads to severe pain and possible permanent damage and loss to the tooth.

Regular check-ups with your dentist every half a year can help you to detect problems early. Visiting your dentist after the festive season for a check-up and thorough clean up can help to eliminate the fuses of many potential dental health problems in the near future.

Meanwhile, dentists offer the following advice on rejuvenating your teeth after the hectic Chinese New Year festival:

Drink lots of water and get ample rest.

Brush your teeth and rinse your mouth after food intake. It is all right to brush your teeth frequently, but not too hard so that you do not exert unnecessary pressure on your teeth. The golden time to brush and floss teeth is 10 minutes right after food intake. Yes, flossing is important too. Quoting a highly apt analogy I read, not flossing is like having an incomplete shower, because you aren’t getting to those hard-to-reach places where plague can build up.

Avoid sugary drinks and snacks. It’s very tempting to finish up all those leftover goodies, but for the sake of your teeth, don’t. Share them with your neighbours or colleagues instead of downing them all. Many New Year goodies have long shelf lives, so keep them until later. And remember not to buy too many next year!

Sources:

http://specialistdentalgroup.com/blog/media_coverage/chinese-new-year-dental-health-lianhe-zaobao/

http://www.yourhealth.com.sg/content/excessive-cny-munching-can-damage-your-teeth/page/0/2#sthash.jN9CCyoP.dpuf


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