A healthy smile is attractive and important when meeting people and making new friends. Being self conscious about your smile can shatter your confidence and seriously affect your selfie taking!
One of the big problems can be sneaking off to bed without cleaning your teeth properly or worse still skipping it completely. But what you will notice is:
- bad breath
- sticky yellow plaque on your teeth
- staining will accumulate on the teeth
If you constantly miss out on cleaning it could lead to problems below fairly quickly:
- tooth decay
- gum disease
- tooth loss
Once this happens it’s a visit to the dentist to get it all sorted out and probably a pretty mad mum and dad.
But theres more to taking care of your mouth then just cleaning your teeth. So what do you need to know? Here we’ve listed the top 6 things you need to seriously consider when you’re a teenager and what you can do to keep your breath fresh, teeth healthy and smile looking great.
1) Healthy Diet
Whenever you eat anything sugary, your teeth are under acid attack for up to one hour. This is because the sugar reacts with the bacteria in plaque and produces harmful acids. Plaque is a build-up of bacteria which forms on your teeth, whenever you eat anything sugary this with plaque produces an acid which causes tooth decay.
What can you do about it?
Try to stick to meal times and avoid snacking, constant snacking means your teeth are constantly under attack. Limit the amount of sugary foods you eat and how often you eat them. Chewing a sugar free gum after eating is a good habit to start and the bonus is it taste great and will keep your breath fresh (your friends will thank you!).
2) Ditch the sugary drinks
Switch from drinking sugary fruit juice drinks, fizzy drinks and energy drinks as these can all cause dental erosion as well as tooth decay. Dental erosion is the gradual loss of tooth enamel caused by frequent acid attacks.
Enamel is the whiter, hard, protective coating on the tooth surface. If it’s worn away then dentine ‘the yellowish part of your tooth underneath the enamel’ is exposed then they could look discoloured and become sensitive.
What can you do about it?
Drinking water and milk is best but if you’re used to drinking a large quantity of sugary or fizzy drinks you could find it hard. It’s always best to ditch the bad drinks straight away but if you struggle don’t give up!
Perhaps try just drinking the bad drinks with your meals then water all of the rest of time, carrying a bottle of water around with you. This will make this easier to keep you hydrated and less likely to drink the sugary stuff.
3) Smoking, alcohol and drugs
We all know of the dangers of smoking and lung cancer but smoking seriously impacts your teeth and your breath. It can also cause tooth staining, gum disease, tooth loss and mouth cancer. The signs of smoking on your teeth are so obvious the dentist will recognise them straight away.
Cases of mouth cancer are steeply rising, it used to be a disease associated mainly with older men but over recent years with more males and females drinking the age is getting younger. Mouth cancer is mostly associated with bad lifestyle choices, being a smoker, drinking and a poor diet significantly increases the likelihood of you suffering from this type of cancer.
Alcohol can also increase the risk of tooth decay and erosion. Some alcoholic drinks have a lot of sugar in them, and some mixed drinks may contain acids. So they can cause decay or dental erosion if you drink them often and in large amounts. Also after a heavy night of drinking you could be sick further increasing the problem with dental erosion.
Illegal drugs can lead to a range of health problems. Smoking cannabis can have the same effects as smoking tobacco. Other drugs can cause a dry mouth and increase the risk of erosion, decay, gum disease and bad breath. Drugs can also cause you to grind your teeth, which can cause headaches and other problems.
What can you do about it?
Just don’t do it! Invest your time into something else and be active in trying to get your friends to spend time doing safer activities like bowling, cinema or concentrate on sports.
4) Blinging it up
Sparkly tooth jewels involves sticking small jewels onto the teeth using dental cement, if done by a dentist this can be done safely. However most aren’t done by a dentist and when they come away can cause the enamel to break away with it resulting in you having to have a filling.
You also need to keep the area around the jewel clean, as plaque can easily build up around it and you will be more likely to get tooth decay.
Mouth piercings can cause all sorts of problems and we see them often at the dentist. The main issue we see is that the the piercing causes the teeth to chip, this is often due to people playing around with their piercing. But the other dangers are:
infection
swelling of the tongue
the tissues around the piercing can become inflamed
blood infections
it can be difficult to talk, eat and swallow
dental treatment could be difficult.
What can you do?
Avoid mouth piercings at all costs and if you do decide to have tooth jewellery then get a trained dentist to do the procedure.
5) Seriously consider braces
If you’re unhappy with how your teeth look because they are crooked or stick out, then perhaps speak to your dentist about your options they might be able to refer you to an orthodontist (brace specialist) for treatment. There are a number of benefits to having straighter teeth the main one being that your teeth are easier to take care of and you’ll be less likely to have problems with tooth decay and gum disease in the future.
The orthodontist will assess your teeth and advise on any treatment. Not everyone qualifies for treatment under the NHS but if you do then you could have the treatment cost covered. Adults don’t qualify for brace treatments under the NHS so if you decided later to get your teeth straightened it could cost you anything from £2000-£4000.
What can you do about it?
Speak to your mum and dad about your concerns and this will help you to have a chat with your dentist at your next dental check up appointment.
6) It’s a knockout
The most common cause of tooth loss in teenagers is from getting injured whilst playing sports. Playing any contact sport or sport involving moving objects could cause broken, damaged teeth and even a broken or dislocated jaw.
What can you do about it?
Wearing a mouthguard will help to protect the teeth. There are lots of different options available online but having one fitted by your dentist means it will fit properly around your teeth, feel better and give you peace of mind.
If you have any questions about taking care of your teeth or are concerned about your oral health then give our friendly team a call on 0116 2891317 or email your question in.
