Cold Weather Dental Tips – Protect Your Teeth And Gums

With the first sign of snow, here are some winter oral care tips for our Chelmsford patients.

Winter scenes can be very beautiful but they often come at a cost. Bad driving conditions and difficulties getting around can make this a tricky time of the year. Coughs, colds and other viral and chest infections are also more common when the weather gets colder. Perhaps surprisingly, our oral health can also suffer at this time of the year and we will look at that in today’s blog.

Sensitive teeth

The most noticeable thing about cold weather and our teeth for some people is the arrival of more sensitive teeth. As the cold air meets our teeth, it can soon find the tiny cracks and chips in our teeth that lead to where the nerves are stored. This can be quite painful for some.

As breathing through the nose isn’t always easy, especially if we are exercising, anyone who suffers with this is likely to feel some significant discomfort. Wearing a scarf over the mouth might help for short walks, but the steam from our breath will soon make that damp and unpleasant.

While there are toothpastes that can help to desensitise the teeth, it is important that you have them checked by one of the dentists at Blue Sky Dental. There is a chance that there is some damage to the teeth that needs to be restored. If you have a small chip or crack to a tooth, it may need to be repaired before the problem becomes more significant and requires more extensive treatment later on.

Dry mouth

While we might associate having a dry mouth with hotter weather and dehydration, the colder air is much drier and can reduce saliva production. As readers of these blogs will know, having a dry mouth enables bacteria to breed more rapidly and can lead to gum disease. It makes sense then, to make sure that you drink plenty of water in the colder weather even if it seems counter intuitive. Gum disease can not only produce some very unpleasant symptoms such as bleeding gums and bad breath, but can be responsible for tooth loss too.

Blood vessels (gums)

The cold weather can cause our blood vessels to constrict a little. This also happens within our gums where the blood vessels are already tiny. This inevitably reduces the flow of blood and oxygen to that area which would normally help to fight off any infections and to heal any minor issues such as a scratch to the gum. It is likely then, that if there are any issues, infections are more likely to take hold and to be slower to heal.  This shouldn’t be a major issue if you look after your gums well but is another useful reminder of how important it is to see our Chelmsford oral hygienist to help keep your gums in good health.

Change of diet

One of the cold weather factors that can affect our oral health is the change in diet that most of us will follow as the weather changes. Gone are the lighter meals and salads and instead, we tend to eat less healthy and more substantial meals that will help to keep us warm. These can be healthy of course, but many, and especially those that are ready made, may well contain higher levels of sugar that can damage the teeth and cause tooth decay. We may also eat more sugary puddings as well to add to the problem.

Even things that we enjoy all year round may increase, for example, an over-indulgence in chocolate as a comforting cold-weather treat. All of this is well and good but also highlights why we need to take really good care of our teeth with sensible brushing and flossing the whole year round.

Take care too when going to your favourite coffee shops. There may be a tendency to switch from your regular latte to one of the ‘speciality’ drinks that are heavier on the cream and sugars. Some of these have extremely large quantities of sugar in them and are best avoided except perhaps, as a special one off treat.

Whether it is hot or cold, it is always important that you do the essentials to keep your teeth and gums healthy.  This not only means being careful of what you eat and drink, important though that is, but also making sure that you have a good brushing routine that uses a fluoride toothpaste and a brush with healthy bristles. Adding floss to your daily oral health care if you don’t already is also essential for healthy gums. You should also make sure that you have appointments booked for a check up at our Chelmsford dental surgery along with a hygienist session.

If you would like any information regarding your oral health, or would like to book an appointment, please call Blue Sky Dental today on 01245 211070.