Keep Smiling on Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is a national holiday that typically invites in all those bad things that can destroy good orthodontic work. It’s a national ode to sweet treats: caramels, sugary sodas, and even brace-destroying hard candies that can wreck your orthodontics work. While it’s no fun to be out of the sweet loop on Valentine’s Day, it’s nice to know that you can replace some things with healthier ones and still celebrate the day in style! Your orthodontist wants you to celebrate, just responsibly. Most folks wonder how, though. What could ever take the place of delicious hard candies?
Sweet Substitutes to Promote Dental Health
Your orthodontic hardware is in the process of fixing things like alignment issues, overcrowding, and overbites or underbites. You don’t want to destroy all of that hard work. Here’s how you can still enjoy the sweetest parts of Valentine’s Day without damaging your teeth.
1. Stay away from hard candies: If you are a chocoholic, this one should be easy to do. Instead of eating hard candies like butterscotch and jolly ranchers, turn instead to very soft, melty chocolates that will indulge your sweet tooth without destroying that same tooth. If there’s a golden rule on Valentine’s Day, it’s to stay away from those hard candies. They’re going to really cause a lot of problems, and the truth is, chocolate is a wonderful substitute as long as it’s soft.
2. Enjoy natural sugars: Natural sugars come from whole fruits like apples, blueberries, grapes, cherries, and kiwi fruit. If that list made your mouth water, you’re a very fortunate person. Not only will whole fruits be better for your teeth, but the sugar content in whole fruits don’t count toward your daily sugar intake. So if you’re dieting and trying to protect your teeth, whole fruits are your salvation on both counts.
3. Continue brushing and flossing: Don’t stop brushing and flossing just because you’re caught up in the excitement of this romantic holiday. Go out and have a great time with your significant other or loved ones, but don’t forget to get back home and brush and floss regularly. Don’t skip that routine. It would make your orthodontist very sad, and it’s going to make your braces very sad, too.
4. Drink water, coffee or tea: Tea and water are by far better for your teeth than drinks like Pepsi or Coke. Any soda with sugar content is going to really do a number on your braces. If you’ve got a dinner out planned, that’s completely okay! You can grab water or tea at dinner instead of a glass of Coke. When you do this, you protect your braces and teeth from the high acidity of the drinks as well as the high levels of sugar. It’s amazing, and scary, just how much sugar these drinks have. Avoid at all costs, even if it’s not Valentine’s Day!
Get More Great Tips
If you’re a little nervous about the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday because of your braces or any orthodontic issues, please reach out to us and get some more helpful tips to keep your teeth safe this holiday. Dr. Chen and our team at Texas Orthodontic Specialist is always ready to hand out sound, useful advice that you can easily implement in your everyday life. You don’t want to let one day ruin all of the hard work you’ve been doing to maintain your dental health. Happy Valentine’s Day!