Flu and your oral health – understanding the risks

Flu cases are on the rise so it’s a good idea to be aware of how you can help protect your teeth and gums if you become ill.

First of all, we would like to wish all of our Chelmsford dental patients a happy new year and hope that you have enjoyed your little break over the festive period. Today is our first blog of 2025 and we are going to take a look at a fairly topical issue which could have an impact on your teeth and gums at this time of the year.

As you may have seen in the news, hospital cases of flu have risen dramatically recently, and while we are not at the ‘panic’ stage that we were with Covid a few years ago, flu should not be taken lightly. It is true that while most of us will recover from it if we are unfortunate enough to get it, and are not likely to end up in hospital unless we are in a vulnerable group, having the flu is likely to be anything but fun and it is important to take care of yourself until you are fully recovered.

At Blue Sky Dental, our particular interest is in helping you to understand the impact that flu could have on your oral health. While you may not feel that is a priority when you are in the throes of the virus, just a few simple changes and improvements could make all the difference to how your teeth and gums cope during this time, and we will take a look at these now.

Dry mouth

There are a few reasons why our mouths might be drier than usual. One of which is the virus itself of course. If we are also blocked up and find it difficult to breath through our nose, we are much more likely to breath through our mouth, causing our mouths to become very dry. This is particularly likely to occur while we sleep. A dry mouth creates the perfect space for bacteria to breed and increase in number. While not all bacteria are bad, and indeed, some of these help us to break down food ready for digestion, there are others that contribute to both tooth decay and gum disease and these will multiply too.

While we obviously have to breathe, there are a number of things that we can do to help minimise this risk. We may not be able to stop it from happening altogether, but as the flu should only last for a few weeks, even providing some help during this time is likely to be beneficial.

If you are able to take decongestants that successfully unblock your nose and help you to breathe through it, this will be very useful. This might not be possible during certain stages of the virus though and this is where it is important to make sure that you drink enough water to maintain a good level of hydration throughout your illness.  While you might be tempted to use soft drinks to help keep energy levels up during this time, we strongly recommend that you prioritise water for this purpose. Most soft drinks are acidic and also contain a lot of sugar which provides food for the bacteria. As a consequence of the bacteria feeding off sugar, acids are produced and it is these which start the process of damaging the enamel. Drinking plenty of water will help you stay hydrated and will also help to wash away some of the bacteria and sugars from the oral cavity and help to keep your mouth healthier.

Lozenges and syrups

Even if we generally eat a healthy and tooth friendly diet, this may well change when we are ill and we may find that we eat more sugary foods than usual to try to build up some energy. One of the biggest dangers at this time though is in what medication we use to help soothe our symptoms. Often these take the form of cough syrups or lozenges to help ease a sore throat. While these can be helpful at reducing the symptoms, they rarely do anything to the virus itself. In addition to this, both are usually very high in sugar in order to mask what would probably be a very unpleasant taste and are also usually very sticky too.

This is particularly a problem as it means that our tooth enamel and gums come into contact with sugars over a long period of time. Quite a few people may also suck a lozenge before going to sleep, even after they have cleaned their teeth. This means that the sugars can attack the teeth and gums for around eight hours or so before the teeth are finally cleaned. You should definitely avoid doing this and should make sure that you eat or drink nothing other than water after you have cleaned your teeth when you go to bed.

Fatigue

Having the flu is likely to result in a number of unpleasant symptoms. While it might not be the worst of these, the feeling of fatigue and general tiredness means that our teeth and gums are likely to be more neglected during this time. In addition to eating more sugary foods to help fight the tiredness, it probably means that we won’t clean our teeth as well as we usually do, and we may even skip it altogether if we feel particularly exhausted.

It is really important that you don’t allow your tiredness to lead to this. Cleaning your teeth is very important under any circumstances. While it might be very tempting to just crawl into bed or under a blanket on the sofa in front of the TV, you really should make the effort to both brush and floss your teeth every day, and in the case of brushing, both morning and night.  If you have an electric toothbrush, this will help as the rotating heads will do much of the work. Make sure you brush for a full two minutes and spit but don’t rinse afterwards. As mentioned before, don’t be tempted to eat or even suck a lozenge afterwards. This will help you to keep your teeth healthy during your illness. Don’t forget to floss too; it only takes a couple of minutes and is extremely beneficial.

You may wish to replace your toothbrush once you have recovered as some viruses may still be present and could cause a re-infection. It might also help to ensure that you have healthy toothbrush bristles for more effective cleaning.

We obviously hope that you don’t catch the flu but if you do, please do bear this advice in mind. In fact, it is generally useful advice anyway. If you do succumb to the virus and find that you have neglected your teeth and would like to have them checked, especially if your next check up appointment at our Chelmsford dental practice is a little while away, we are happy to book you in to give you peace of mind. If you would like to do this, you can call Blue Sky Dental to arrange an appointment on 01245 211070.