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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.

Using mouthwash correctly may not seem like a hard task, but if you are concerned with properly caring for your teeth and gums, it’s important to understand how to maximize the effectiveness of your mouthwash. One of the hardest questions to answer concerning mouthwash is if you should use it before or after brushing your teeth. Unfortunately there’s no definite answer, because it depends on what you’re aiming for with your mouthwash and how you want it to affect your mouth. That said, there is no wrong answer, if you use mouthwash before, after, or both you’re doing a much better job than not using mouthwash at all.

To decide if you want to use your mouthwash before or after your brushing, it’s first best to understand exactly what mouthwash can do for you. Its main purpose is to help kill bad bacteria in your mouth and loosen/flush out particles and plaque that are in the mouth.
When choosing a mouthwash, there’s not many you can go wrong with. Mouthwashes are often made very similarly, with the biggest difference being flavor and extra offerings, such as making your teeth whiter. However, many mouthwashes contain alcohol, which is less desirable than an alcohol-free mouthwash. Don’t get is wrong, a mouthwash with alcohol as an ingredient can still do wonders, however it can dry out your mouth. This can lower the production of saliva, which is the mouth’s natural defense against bad bacteria.
We recommend finding a mouthwash that is free of alcohol. Or, if you have a mouthwash with alcohol, try diluting it with water. A 20 to 70 ratio of water to mouthwash can work just fine at helping lessen the effects of the alcohol without making your mouthwash less effective.
Choosing when to use your mouthwash, now that you have chosen the mouthwash for you, is again up to you.

Using Mouthwash Before Brushing

If you use your mouthwash before brushing, the mouthwash has a good chance of breaking up a lot of the plaque and particles in your mouth making it easier for your toothbrush to get to the harder spots of the mouth and teeth and really scrub away plaque. This is similar to how you might rinse off your dirty dishes after dinner before placing them in the dishwasher.

Using Mouthwash After Brushing

If before brushing is similar to rinsing your dishes, after brushing is similar to soaking your dishes in diluted bleach water after they’re clean. Your mouthwash is making sure all of the scrubbed off residue and plaque is out of the mouth. And, if you choose to not rinse out your mouth after, is helping disinfect for a longer amount of time.

Using Mouthwash Both Before and After Brushing

For the over-achievers, rinsing both before and after you brush your teeth might be the best option. You’re loosening particles and plaque before and making sure they’re completely free of particles after. All the while killing as much bacteria as possible.
It’s really up to you on how you choose to use your mouthwash. According to a BreathMD poll, most people like to choose after brushing to use their mouthwash. However, that doesn’t make either way right or wrong.
 

If you have trouble with bad breath, you might find that onions and garlic are two of your worst enemies. While other smelly foods can usually be defeated with a mint or a quick swish of mouthwash, onions and garlic always seem to be a lot harder to combat. That’s due to the chemical makeup of onions, garlic, and any plant in the allium plant family (shallots, scallions, leeks, etc).

Garlic, onions, and the rest of the allium plant family affect your breath in two ways. The first is how most other foods give you bad breath, which is by the sulfuric compounds that actually get stuck in your mouth. They get stuck either between your teeth, in the pockets of your gums, or on your tongue. As the food is broken down and rots in your mouth, it begins to smell worse, thus giving you bad breath.
The second way allium plants affect your breath is slightly more complicated. When you eat garlic and other allium plants, you digest certain chemical compounds. The one that affects your breath is known as allyl methyl sulfide. This chemical comes out as a gas and is absorbed into the bloodstream. By traveling through the blood it is able to enter the lungs where it is exhaled. Unfortunately for us, allyl methyl sulfide gives off quite a harsh smell. This is why garlic, onions, and all of the allium plants give you bad breath that’s almost impossible to combat.

Getting Rid of Garlic and Onion Breath

There’s good news and bad news when combating garlic and onion breath. First, the bad news: The only way to completely eliminate garlic and onion breath is by not eating garlic and onions. That’s because there really is no way to remove the smell of garlic or onions from your bloodstream. The good news, however, is that, although you can’t completely eliminate the smell of garlic or onions, you can get rid of a good deal of the smell as well as take preventative measures to ensure your bad breath doesn’t get out of control.

Brush, Floss and Use Mouthwash

Of course, first and foremost, the best way to rid your mouth of garlic and onion breath is with proper hygiene practices. Flossing, brushing, and mouthwash will all help remove food particles in your mouth while killing bad bacteria and leaving your mouth looking and feeling fresh.

Parsley Can Help With Bad Breath

Ever see that little sprig of green on your plate at a restaurant? That’s parsley and it’s there to help your mouth. Chewing that bit of green can help neutralize the odors of garlic and onions. Even better, parsley in the meal can help keep the bad breath from developing in the first place.

Eat Lemons to Neutralize the Garlic and Onion Odor

Lemons help by neutralizing garlic and onion odor while also killing the bad bacteria associated with bad breath. Try sucking on a lemon wedge after a meal that’s loaded with either of the two smelly plants. Your breath will feel fresher almost instantly.

Drink Green Tea

If you’re concerned about bad garlic or onion breath, drinking green tea can really help. The polyphenols in tea are able to combat and reduce the amount of sulfur compounds produced by them.

Drink Milk While You're Eating the Smelly Food

And lastly, for those who are most concerned about their breath, studies have shown that milk can actually help reduce the odor of garlic or onions. Though for best possible results, one should drink milk with every bite of they take.
While fighting bad breath from allium plants might be a hard task, there are plenty of ways you can help prevent bad breath from occurring. Whether by brushing and flossing, or trying out some home remedies, you can help reduce the smell of garlic and onions on your breath.
For more information about the best and worst foods for your breath, click here. We here at Water Tower Dental Care are always happy to help you with any oral health questions you may have. Feel free to contact Water Tower Dental today.