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We all love the holidays, but it’s important to be aware of your oral health during these festive times. Taking care of your teeth and gums during the holidays is simple. All it includes is avoiding a few nasty habits and being aware of the treats that can be most harmful to your teeth. Here are our four dental health tips for the holiday season.

Be Careful of the Sugary Treats

The holidays are often filled with candy canes, peanut brittle, sweet chocolate, and fruitcake. All of these treats can be very harmful for your teeth. Chewy and hard candy alike can get stuck in your teeth, pull out fillings, and even fracture more sensitive teeth. Most of these sweet treats are best avoided throughout the season.
Of course, we know that’s near impossible, so don’t fret. Just drink lots of water after eating any of these sugary sweets. Why? Well, the worst proponent of these snacks is the sugar. However, sugar is much less harmful when it’s not feeding the bacteria in your teeth. Washing out your mouth with water will help keep your teeth safe from sugar.

Let the Nutcrackers do their Job

Nothing is worse during the holiday season than a fractured tooth. It means you can’t eat all of those delicious meals, and because most dentists are off on holidays, you may not be able to receive medical attention for a day or two. With that in mind, never use your teeth to crack a nut. While grandpa might tell you, “that’s how they did it in the war,” you’re living in a townhouse in the suburbs. Your aunt’s collection of nutcrackers will do a much better job than your teeth, not to mention keep your teeth safe.

Keep Scissors Handy to Open Those Packages

Everyone receives a few gifts during the holidays. As excited as you are to see what your friends or family gave you, we suggest avoiding using your teeth to tear open that package. Instead employ a pair of scissors. They’re easier to use than your teeth, and will allow you to avoid the risk of chipping your front teeth or pulling on teeth that needn’t be pulled.

Avoid Stressful Situations

We understand that the holidays can get hectic. Family is visiting, there are a dozen things on your “To Do” list, and you’re always one hour short of time. That’s okay, it’s the holidays, and no one will be too upset if things go a little wrong. After all, you’re with people that love you.
Those who stress out do two things: they bite their nails and they grind their teeth. Both of these habits can wear down the enamel of your teeth and make you more prone to cavities. As well, biting your nails lets germs and bacteria that were stuck in your fingers into your mouth. This can harm your teeth more than you know. Instead, take a breath every so often. Enjoy a cup of tea (which can help the teeth), and remember, no matter what, things will be okay.
Remember, the holidays are about having fun and seeing friends and family. The best advice for the holidays is to make sure to brush and floss on your regular schedule. Drinks lots of water to wash out the food particles between meals, and have a great time!

Surprise: your wisdom teeth are no wiser than your other teeth. They’re named that because the wisdom teeth are your last to emerge, usually when you’re more mature and a little wiser. The wisdom teeth are the third molars in the back of your mouth that develop in the later years of your maturing body. While some people are able to keep their wisdom teeth, the majority of people need to have them removed. There are many reasons why a person may need their wisdom teeth removed.

Reasons Why Your Wisdom Teeth Need to Be Removed

The first reason why you may need your wisdom teeth removed is that they can grow improperly, either never emerging from the gums or moving at such an angle that they affect other teeth. Because wisdom teeth are the last of the teeth to emerge, they often displace other teeth that are in their correct position. Many times, the wisdom teeth don’t start to grow until after a person has worn braces. If they grow irregularly, they can push against your back molars and cause a chain reaction that dis-aligns all of your teeth. Some wisdom teeth can grow at such an angle they never emerge from the gums, yet still push on your teeth to affect your mouth structure.
Other times, a wisdom tooth might grow straight, but only partially emerge from the gums, making it hard to fully clean the tooth while creating a passageway for bacteria to enter into the gums. This will create larger issues such as periodontal disease or oral infections.
When either of these situations happen, it’s a wise choice to have your wisdom teeth removed. It’s recommended to remove wisdom teeth before they are fully grown. This makes the removal easier, as roots are not yet fully formed, which keeps them from becoming too hinged to the jaw. When wisdom teeth are rooted, they are often positioned very close to the nerve endings of your jaw. Removal of your wisdom teeth at such juncture can cause a higher amount of pain, heavy bleeding, and minor loss of movement in the jaw. These problems can last days to months.
Removing wisdom teeth before they’re fully grown often means removing them before a clear problem arises. Often the patient is younger, which helps the mouth heal faster with less bleeding and pain.
Sometimes, however, the problem is avoided or not addressed until much larger issues occur. If you haven’t removed your wisdom teeth and are experiencing any of the following symptoms, it’s recommended you have your wisdom teeth checked and potentially removed.

Signs That You May Need Your Wisdom Teeth Removed

• Pain in the Back of Mouth
• Periodontal Disease
• Extensive Tooth Decay
• Cysts
• Infection of Gums In the Back Teeth

While some don’t ever find cause to remove their wisdom teeth, the majority of healthy adults will need to have theirs’ removed. If your wisdom teeth are beginning to emerge or have appeared and are causing you issues, we recommend contacting your dentist to help take you through the proper steps of wisdom teeth removal.

You may have heard of the many health benefits of tea, but did you know tea is really good for your teeth as well? Both black and green tea contain catechins, also known as antioxidants, which help remove harmful bacteria from your mouth.
However, tea does so much more than that. Next to water, it’s the most helpful liquid you can drink. Here are five ways tea is helping your oral health.

Tea Helps Your Gums

Tea is known to have anti-inflammatory elements that help control swelling, bleeding, and infection in your gums. By replacing bad bacteria with good bacteria in your mouth and helping prevent your gums from becoming inflamed, tea is a great way to help fight against periodontal disease.

It Helps Prevent Cavities

Along with clearing out bacteria, tea also helps lower the acidic levels of saliva and plaque in your mouth. Acidic elements are what eat away at the teeth to create cavities. When tea washes away this acidity, it’s harder for cavities to start.

It Keeps Your Teeth In Your Mouth

That’s right, not only can it keep your gums and teeth healthy, it can also help keep your teeth from falling out when you’re older. Studies have shown that men and women who drink one or more cups of tea a day hold onto their natural teeth for longer.

Tea Improves Your Breath

Bad breath derives from bacteria that grow in the far back of your throat, a place that’s hard to reach with a toothbrush. Without proper care, the bacteria breed enough to cause a foul smell. Tea helps by washing away and killing the bacteria, making it easy for your breath to smell fresh all day.

It Helps Prevent Oral Cancer

Antioxidants help every part of the body fight cellular damage and tumor growth. When you drink tea, you’re filling your mouth with antioxidants that are able to help keep your mouth from developing cancerous tumors.
To better help your teeth and mouth, you should know the best way to drink your tea. First, green and black tea are both good for you, but green is definitely better. Black tea is slightly more processed, which results in less antioxidants. And if you like white teeth, black tea is better avoided as it can stain those pearly whites.
To make tea correctly, boil water and pour the hot water over the tealeaves in a ceramic cup. Then, cover the cup with a saucer for 2 to 3 minutes as the tea steeps. This will help get the most out of every bag of tea.
Avoid adding sugar to your tea as bacteria loves to feed off of sugar. Also avoid bottled iced tea as it tends to have citric elements that can help raise the acidic levels of saliva.
If you have any more questions about how tea can help your teeth or if you would like to visit Chicago’s number one rated dentistry, contact Water Tower Dental today. We’re happy to help answer any questions and put you on the path to a better, brighter smile.

Do you ever cringe at the sound of someone chewing ice? Does the thought of biting down on cold ice cream might make you feel faint? This may be because you have extremely sensitive teeth. You might find it painful to chew or drink anything cold. Even hot foods can make you shiver.
Sensitive teeth can be caused by a variety of issues, including problems with your teeth and your gums. Here are six reasons why you might have sensitive teeth, and the solutions to help save your teeth.

Brushing Too Hard

Believe it or not, you can actually hurt your teeth if you brush too hard. Often, the brusher will use a toothbrush with bristles that are too tough for their teeth. This results in the brush wearing down the enamel that protects the teeth and causes the gums to recede, exposing the dental nerves. When the nerves are exposed to hot or cold foods, it can send pain throughout your mouth.
The solution is to replace your toothbrush with one that comes with softer bristles. You can easily find these at any pharmacy or drugstore. Using toothpaste made for sensitive teeth can help rebuild enamel and strengthen the gums.

Grinding Your Teeth

Teeth grinding can quickly damage teeth, and unfortunately, most don’t know it when they’re doing it. Teeth grinding typically happens in a person’s sleep, and wears down the enamel of the teeth. A person will wake up with a sore mouth and a burning headache. They’ll find it hard to chew most foods, hot and cold, and the jaw will be extremely sore.
The first step to saving your teeth from grinding is realizing you’re doing it. Most people are informed by their partner, who can hear them grinding their teeth while they’re sleeping. The next step is to consult a dentist, who can help you with practices that will slow down or prevent the grinding, such as placing a warm towel on the jaw before bed or wearing a protective mouth guard.

Too Much Mouthwash

Another reason you may develop sensitive teeth is because you’re using too much mouthwash. Mouthwash that includes alcohol can be especially harmful, as it can begin to wear away at the gums and enamel. Of course, using mouthwash once or twice a day won’t do too much damage. Those who like to use it every hour on the dot may be harming their mouth, though.
If you’re obsessed with mouthwash and don’t want to quit the habit, consider using alcohol-free mouthwash. There are several varieties and they won’t damage your teeth the way mouthwash with alcohol does.

Too Much Plaque

Plaque is the build up on your teeth that develops when bacteria thrives. Plaque wears away enamel and causes cavities (among many other issues). Plaque develops from lack of oral hygiene.
Brushing and flossing are key to ridding yourself of plaque. You should also visit the dentist at least twice a year for a deep cleaning that will remove the hidden plaque that brushing and flossing can’t get to.

A Cracked Tooth

Often, by no fault of your own, you can crack a tooth. Either by biting down on something too hard or from a simple accident, like falling down or getting hit with a baseball. However a tooth gets cracked, it can cause a lot of pain in your mouth. If you’re unaware of the crack, it can feel very similar to having sensitive teeth.
The only way to solve this problem is by making an appointment with your dentist to have the tooth repaired. A cap on the tooth or an extraction are the most likely solutions.

Gum Disease

Receding gums from periodontal disease can cause a lot of mouth issues, including extra sensitive teeth. Gums recede when plaque and bacteria destroy the gum, causing it to expose pockets between the teeth that cause an exposed nerve.
The best way to prevent gum disease is by brushing two to three times a day, and flossing and using mouthwash once a day. Eating healthy, drinking lots of water, and regularly seeing a dentist will also help to prevent your gums from receding.
As always, the best solution for a great smile is practicing daily oral hygiene and visiting your dentist twice a year. If you have any more questions about sensitive teeth, do not hesitate to contact Water Tower Dental, Chicago’s #1 Dental Practice.