Author name: seo

It’s that time of year again—Halloween! Carving pumpkins. Creating costumes. And, of course, collecting candy. But some of the candies in that collection aren’t much of a treat for your teeth. When you’re deciding on the perfect pieces to choose from the candy cauldron, here are some tricks to identify the ones that can be more frightful than delightful for your tooth enamel and braces: Is It Chewy or Sticky? Any sticky or chewy candy—caramels, taffy, licorice, gummy anythings—is candy that also sticks to your teeth. And it really sticks in between your teeth, where it’s harder to brush away. The problem? Bacteria in plaque love sugar, and sticky candies provide them with hours of sugary feasting. Bacteria use this sugar to make acids, and acids cause weak spots in tooth enamel. These weak spots will get bigger over time as the bacteria keep on attacking your enamel, and that’s how you can end up with a cavity. Less sugar which spends less time on your teeth = fewer cavities! And there’s another good reason to pass up chewy treats if you wear braces. Candy can get stuck under your brackets and wires, or be sticky enough to pull a bracket right off a tooth. Is It Sour? Sour candies get that intense, lip-puckering taste because they’re so acidic. What’s wrong with acids? Just like the acids made by bacteria, acids in food attack our tooth enamel, too. Sour candies are hard on your teeth all by themselves. When you eat a candy that’s both sour (acidic) and gummy (sticky), all coated in sugar, that’s triple trouble! Is It Hard or Crunchy? Some kids like hard candies like lollipops and fruity drops because they last a long time. But that’s the problem. All that time a hard candy rolls around in your mouth is time spent bathing your teeth with sugar. Thinking of shortening your sugar exposure by chewing hard candies? Also a bad idea! Crunching into a piece of hard candy can chip or crack a tooth and even damage fillings. Crunchy treats can be hard on braces, too. Peanut brittle, nutty candy bars, candy apples, popcorn balls, or any hard or crunchy candy can damage your brackets and wires when you bite down. Luckily, there are healthier trick-or-treating choices if you know what to look for. Soft Candies and Chocolates A chocolate bar, a peanut butter cup, mint patties, and other soft candies won’t stick around on your teeth the same way chewy or hard candies do. No sour acids, either. And because dark chocolate has less sugar than lighter chocolates, it’s an even healthier choice. Bonus: They’re easy to bite and chew when you wear braces! Sugar-Free Gum This treat is not only sugarless, but chewing it helps us make more saliva. Saliva washes away sugary food particles and helps neutralize the acids in the mouth. If you wear braces, check with Dr. Sheeba Zaidi to see if sugar-free gum is safe for your brackets and wires. No need to skip the trick-or-treating this year. Occasional sugary or acidic treats can be balanced out with daily brushing and flossing, a healthy diet, and regular visits to your dentist for exams and cleanings. When you do enjoy a treat that’s sugary or acidic, there are tricks to help you keep your smile healthy and cavity-free. Eat a treat or two with your meals instead of snacking through the day. You won’t be exposing your teeth to sugar for hours at a time, which means bacteria and acids won’t be haunting your enamel all day long. Drink water. If you eat your candy with an acidic soda, you’re getting sugar + sugar + acids. That’s a scary recipe when it comes to healthy teeth! Water helps wash away sugar and acids—and, if you have fluoridated water in your community, you’ll be getting a bit of fluoride to strengthen your enamel, too. Halloween is no time to ghost your toothbrush and floss. Be extra careful to brush and clean between your teeth after eating sweets. Wearing braces? Don’t forget to clean around your brackets and wires. Using aligners? Be sure to brush well after you eat something sugary before you replace them. If you’re wearing braces this Halloween season, it’s important to avoid all the sticky, hard, and crunchy treats to keep your braces and your treatment schedule intact. Any questions? Talk to Dr. Sheeba Zaidi at our Wallingford, CT office to learn the best ways to keep your smile looking boo-tiful all year long!

Somewhere in a bathroom drawer or medicine cabinet, we all have one—that little plastic dental floss dispenser. And whether you use your floss every day (yay!), or have completely forgotten it was in there (not so good), just how much do you know about that sturdy string? Let’s find out! Flossing has been around for hundreds of years. FACT: It’s been just over two hundred years since Dr. Levi Spear Parmly, a dentist in New Orleans, suggested his patients use waxed silk thread to clean between their teeth. This is considered the first “official” invention of dental floss, although using some form of tool to get rid of food particles between the teeth has been around since prehistoric times. Brushing well is the same as flossing. FICTION: It’s really not. While brushing does a great job of cleaning food particles, plaque, and bacteria from your enamel, there are some places those bristles can’t… quite… reach. Floss was designed to clean plaque and food from between the teeth and close to the gum line where your brush doesn’t fit. There’s more than one way to clean between your teeth. FACT: Indeed there is! Not only are there many varieties of dental floss (waxed, flavored, round, flat, thick, thin, in a dispenser, attached to miniature floss wands), but you have alternatives if using any kind of floss is difficult for you. Water-flossers direct a pulsing stream of water between and around the teeth and gum line to remove food particles and plaque. Another useful alternative is the interproximal brush, a tiny little cone-shaped brush designed to remove food and plaque from those hard-to-reach spots. It’s impossible to floss with braces. FICTION: Untrue—but it can be more challenging! That’s why there are any number of flossing products designed to work with and around your braces. Stiff strands of floss which work like dental picks, floss threaders, water flossers, and interproximal/interdental brushes can both clean between your teeth and remove food particles and plaque where they collect around your braces. Dr. Sheeba Zaidi can suggest some great options to work with your individual orthodontic treatment. Flossing helps prevent gum disease. FACT: Scientific studies haven’t provided definitive answers. But dental and periodontal associations strongly recommend daily flossing as one of the most important things you can do to prevent gum disease. Gingivitis, or mild gum disease, is caused by irritated, inflamed gum tissue. Gum tissue becomes irritated and inflamed as a response to the bacteria, plaque, and tartar that stick to your teeth. Anything you can do to help remove these irritants will reduce your risk of gum disease. Flossing helps prevent cavities. FACT: Dentists strongly recommend daily flossing to remove the food particles and plaque that lead to cavities. Brushing removes cavity-causing plaque from the outer surfaces of your teeth. But there’s a lot of enamel between your teeth as well. Flossing removes plaque from these hidden spots, helping to prevent interproximal (“between the teeth”) cavities from forming. Bleeding when you floss is normal. FICTION: Bleeding isn’t a typical reaction to flossing. Bleeding gums could be an early sign of gum disease caused by plaque and tartar buildup. On the other hand, if you floss too hard, or go too deeply below the gum line, you can make delicate gum tissue bleed. Ask Dr. Sheeba Zaidi for tips on perfect flossing technique. You need to floss after every meal. FICTION: Dental professionals generally recommend brushing twice a day and flossing at least once each day. But this suggestion comes with some exceptions. Since you have braces, Dr. Sheeba Zaidi might recommend flossing whenever you have a meal or snack. Your dentist will never know that you haven’t been flossing. FICTION: Nope. Sure, you can miss flossing a few times and catch up before your appointment at our Wallingford, CT office. But built-up plaque between the teeth, red, swollen, or bleeding gums, and gingivitis and interproximal cavities let both you and your dentist know that you’ve been neglecting good dental habits. It’s never too late to start flossing! FACT: Flossing is a simple, quick, and inexpensive way to maintain tooth and gum health. If you haven’t had much luck flossing in the past, ask Dr. Sheeba Zaidi for flossing tools and techniques that will work for your specific needs. Start now, and see what a difference it will make at your next checkup! If you had all these flossing facts at your fingertips, congratulations! But if you didn’t, no need to worry, because the real test of your knowledge is in its application. Flossing properly at least once each day will give you something far more rewarding than blog-quiz kudos—you’ll see that regular flossing rewarded with healthier teeth and gums!