Seven Tips from Passion Family Dental for a Smile-Friendly Easter

Easter season is here again, and grocery aisles are stuffed with pastel-coloured creamy eggs, marshmallow-shaped chicks, and chocolate eggs.

The Easter Bilby is out, and that means sugar is everywhere. The problem is that sugar is terrible for our teeth, and bad for our general health as well.

At Passion Family Dental we hope you enjoy your Easter, but we don’t want you to do so at the expense of your health.

Which is why we’re sharing a short explanation of the dangers of Easter sweets, and what you can do to ensure that you and your family don’t end up paying the price for delicious overindulgence.

What’s the Problem?

Easter treats are chock-full of sugar. The average adult Australian adult female should have25 grams (6 teaspoons) or adult male 35 grams (7 teaspoons) of sugar per day in their diet, and certainly no more than 50 grams (12 teaspoons) in any case.

But take a look at what Easter treats offer:

• Cadbury Dairy Milk Hollow Easter Egg. These very popular chocolate eggs contain 57.6 grams or sugar (over 12 teaspoons). Just one of these will be twice the daily recommended amount of sugar for a female adult.
• Maltesers Teasers Mini Eggs. Contain around 55 grams of sugar (over 12 teaspoons)
• Lindt Chocolate Bunny. First, the “serving’ size here is half a bunny! Which comes in at 25 grams of sugar. But you’ll probably eat the whole bunny, and have a shocking 50 grams of sugar.
• Cadbury Crème Eggs. 20 grams of sugar
• Hot Cross Buns. If you think you can avoid a sugar overload by eating a hot cross bun then think again! Most supermarket hot cross buns contain as much sugar as your average chocolate bar!

These are just some examples, but pretty much all the other options are just as bad.

Because Easter offers so many opportunities to harm your dental health, Passion Family Dental has seven strategies for a healthy Easter:

1. Start the day with healthy food. The rest of the day may be out of your control, but your breakfast isn’t. Green smoothies, protein shakes, eggs, and Greek yogurt are all examples of super-healthy and teeth-friendly breakfasts. Stay away from sugary cereals and juices.
2. Drink water – lots of it. Drinking a glass of water before eating reduces hunger, and drinking during and after eating helps saliva with keeping your teeth clean. When you’re tempted to have a sugary soft drink, replace it with water with a twist of cucumber.
3. Greens keep your teeth white! Chew on a plate full of veggie sticks or salad. The fibre helps fill you up, and many greens are full of water and fibre, both of which help keep your teeth clean and free of the debris that leads to plaque
4. Be careful of serving sizes. This is true of all foods and particularly of lollies, which often have unusually small “serving” sizes. It only takes a small handful of jellybeans or chocolate eggs to mean many days worth of sugar in your diet.
5. Enjoy sweet treats last. After you’ve filled up on healthy food, enjoy your sweet bread and candy. First, you won’t be as hungry, but also the saliva produced by eating a full meal also helps clean your mouth. Keeping candy consumption to meals also lessens the number of times per day that sugar is on your teeth.
6. Brush and floss your teeth. We all know the importance of brushing our teeth at least twice a day. You may want to consider brushing your teeth more often to help remove the sugar off your teeth. Don’t forget to floss!
7. Choose better treats. All Easter sweets are not created equal when it comes to attacking the enamel on your teeth. Some contain more sugar than others or take a long time to chew, which means they are in the mouth much longer.

Bad Easter Candies

Sticky candy: the longer sugary food remains in your mouth, the higher the risk of cavities become.

Sticky sweets not only contain high levels of sugar but because they stick to your teeth, bacteria can feast on them there, leading to plaque and eventually cavities.

Hard candy: This is likely to have very high sugar content and can crack teeth and dental appliances.

Milk chocolate: Milk chocolate contains a high amount of sugar; nearly double the sugar in dark chocolate. Sugar, as we know, is not good for our teeth or health!

Good Easter Candies

Dark Chocolate: recent research concludes that chocolate can be beneficial for teeth, as long as it isn’t stuffed with sugar the way milk chocolate is. If you choose dark chocolate of 75 per cent and above, you can consider it relatively dentally healthy candy.

Candy with nuts: Nuts help break up the stickiness of candy, reducing how long it stays in your mouth and on your teeth.

Sugarless Candy: Sugarless candy creates less acid and bacteria to attack your teeth. Sugar-free chewing gum is also good – it can help dislodge food from your teeth and increase saliva. Saliva helps balance out the acids in your mouth and fight tooth decay.

Care for your Sweet Tooth

By following these common practices, however, those who consume more sugar than average can maintain healthy teeth. Here are some tips that can help prevent cavities for sugar lovers:

Brush your teeth regularly

Use a soft-bristled toothbrush to brush your teeth. This helps remove the food debris without hurting your gums and eroding your teeth enamel.

Don’t forget to floss

Flossing is as important as brushing your teeth. Dental floss can remove the food debris stuck between teeth, which your toothbrush can’t reach.

Use a mouthrinse

Mouthrinses remove as much sugar and sticky residue from sweets as possible.

While mouthrinses that contain fluoride are the best options, even gargling plain water around your mouth can help when no other option is available. It is important to always us a mouthrinse that is alcohol free.

The key to prevent cavities after eating sugary foods is simply to prevent the mouth from remaining coated in the acid-forming sugars and other carbohydrates found in sweets after eating.

The Passion Family Dental Answer!

We believe high-quality dental care can only be achieved by placing our customers first. This Easter, you don’t need to worry about anything!

At Passion Family Dental North Lakes, we will help you with managing your oral health while enjoying your favorite treats.

We have free parking on-site, as well as on-street parking.

We are wheelchair friendly!

Monday – Friday: 8:00am to 5:00pm

Weekends and after hours by appointment

Call (07) 3465 1199 or visit us at Unit 4/6 Endeavour Boulevard in North Lakes.