Easter Dental Tips: 6 Ways to Protect Your Teeth

Many celebrate Easter with egg hunts, get-togethers, and baskets lined with green, plastic grass.

We often don’t think of how much sugar we consume on Easter and how it might affect our teeth.

Unfortunately, it harms dental health because of the amount of sugar available.

At My Local Dentists, we’d like to offer six essential tips to help you, your kids, and your friends get through Easter without damaging your oral health or waistline.

Easter means too much sugar!

Easter treats are stuffed with sugar.

Health professionals say that the average Australian woman should consume 25 grams of sugar, while men should consume 35 grams—no one should exceed 50 grams, in any case.

But take a look at what Easter candies offer:

• Brach’s Classic Jelly Bird Eggs. 30 grams of sugar
• One serving of a chocolate-covered Peep (28 grams) has 14 grams of sugar, while one serving of small yellow Peeps has a stunning 34 grams of sugar.
• Lindt Chocolate Bunny. First, the “serving” size is an unrealistic half a bunny! Which comes in at 25 grams of sugar. But you’ll probably eat the whole bunny and have 50 grams of sugar.
• Cadbury Crème Eggs. 20 grams of sugar.

Put it together, and the numbers can be staggering. One Cadbury Crème Egg, a serving of Yellow Peeps, and a chocolate bunny contain 84 grams of sugar.

Add a serving of jellybeans, and you’re over 110 grams.

Then factor in your Easter meals, drinks, and desserts with them. Getting close to one week’s recommended sugar intake in one day is possible!

And if your child has an Easter basket, they can be overdosing on sugar day after day.

Which Is Why We Offer The Following Six Tips For Dealing With Easter

Avoid hard and sticky candies

Sticky sweets often lodge between the teeth and are hard to remove. When they sit between the teeth, your enamel begins to break down.

Also, eating hard candies often leads to chipped or broken teeth.

If you must eat something sweet, opt for some dark chocolate instead. Also, snacking on healthy foods like fruits and vegetables should be considered.

Most fruits and vegetables are fibrous. They can remove the food debris stuck in hard-to-reach areas like between teeth.

They can also help prevent bad breath. Crunchy fruits can freshen your breath in no time. They don’t have harmful sugars that can cause tooth decay and bad breath.

No grazing

About 20 minutes after eating, your saliva neutralises acids excreted by the bacteria in your mouth. Each time you eat, those acids are created, and your saliva has to struggle to deal with them.

If you can, eat crunchy food like a carrot or apple after you have something sweet. The fibre and liquid in the apple will help keep your teeth clean and freshen your breath.

Wait a few hours between meals to keep your teeth in optimal condition, and eat your sweets with a meal, if possible. Eating your sweets with a meal can help lessen the acid production in your mouth.

Don’t brush your teeth just after eating

You may think you’re doing the right thing by efficiently brushing your teeth straight after enjoying chocolate, but you could do more harm than good.

Immediately after you’ve finished polishing off your egg, your mouth will be acidic, softening the enamel of your teeth and making them more vulnerable to damage caused by brushing.

Instead, wait at least 30 minutes before brushing. This will give your saliva more time to neutralise any acidity. In the meantime, a glass of water will help rinse away any lingering candy fragments.

Be careful of serving sizes

This is true of all foods, particularly candies, which often have unusually small “serving” sizes. It only takes a handful of jellybeans or chocolate eggs to mean many days of sugar in your diet.

Eat sugary foods in moderation. Anything eaten excessively can lead to serious health issues.

Drink water – lots of it!

Drinking a glass of water before eating reduces hunger, and drinking during and after eating helps saliva keep your teeth clean, sluicing away harmful sugars and food debris.

When you’re tempted to have a sugary soft drink, replace it with water with a lemon slice or cucumber twist. Drinking plenty of water also helps you avoid some common diseases.

Visit your West Ryde dentist. You should visit us at least twice a year, and if you haven’t seen us yet, the Easter holiday is a good excuse to make an appointment. We’ll give you an examination and cleaning, which should help with anything Easter candy might have done to your dental health.

Visit us today to take advantage of our promising promotions!

Dental Health in West Ryde

At My Local Dentists, our treatments and services are 100% personalised to you and your needs.

Our dentists are highly motivated and accredited practitioners with graduate degrees from the University of Sydney.

Alongside our dentists, the supporting staff are tremendously dedicated and experienced to ensure that each visit with us is as pleasant as possible.

GAP FREE

General Check-up, Scale and Clean, X-rays and Fluoride treatment (with any health insurance)

Visit your West Ryde dentist today!

Call us on (02) 9809 7000 or book your appointment online today!

Our family-friendly dental practice is located at Shop 20 West Ryde Marketplace, 14 Anthony Road, West Ryde.