Dental Tips for Traveling
It’s important to continue to maintain your oral health even when traveling. Here are some tips to make sure you don’t run into dental trouble on your vacation. Before You Go Before traveling, especially if you’re traveling out of the country, get a dental checkup to make sure you won’t be facing any major problems while traveling. But don’t get your checkup right before you go. Give yourself a month before you go. This is sufficient to get most dental issues resolved before your trip. If you’re traveling outside the country, check on the state of dentistry and medicine in the area you’re visiting and whether it is recommended that you get care there if necessary. If you are traveling into the back country or to a place where dentistry may be more harmful than helpful, consider adding temporary dental cement to your first aid kit. This could help you manage a dental injury until you can get home and have your teeth treated. Pick up travel supplies to ensure you have all the tools for taking proper care of your oral health. Travel size toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental flossers are good supplies. Flossers are a little better than regular dental floss for travel because it’s easier to carry one around with you for use if you get something stuck in your teeth at a meal. While Traveling Maintain your typical oral hygiene routine while traveling. This is hard, we know, but you should try it anyway. Be aware of what you’re eating and drinking. It’s normal to drink more alcohol while traveling than at home. Make sure you’re staying hydrated so your body will continue to produce bacteria-fighting saliva. Also remember that wine is very acidic and can be damaging to teeth. Mixed drinks often contain sugar and acids, too. Beer is a better option. It’s not as acidic as wine or soda. Straight liquor with a water chaser is the best option. End every meal with water to rinse your teeth and prevent the growth of cavities. If You Have a Dental Emergency If you have a dental emergency, don’t panic. If you lose a filling, you can cover the area with dental cement. If you didn’t bring that, you can use wax. If you lose a dental crown, clean it out and clean the tooth where it goes. Make sure it is properly inserted, then, if you want, you can use temporary cement to hold it in place. If you crack a tooth, cover it with dental cement if you’re not in a place with good dental care, but see a dentist if you are. If you experience spontaneous or lasting tooth pain, you may have a dental emergency that needs treatment no matter what. If you have a fever, excessive bad breath, or the area around the tooth is red, swollen, and painful, you may have an abscessed tooth that could be life threatening. Ask at the hotel or a guide about getting the tooth taken care of. Hopefully, you won’t have any dental emergencies when traveling. As little as you may like the dentist at home, it’s much preferable to spending your vacation at the dentist’s office. If you are considering travel and want to schedule a checkup before you go, please contact Ascent Dental in the Cherry Creek area of Denver.
How to Treat Halitosis
Halitosis is the scientific name of bad breath. Bad breath is primarily caused by mouth bacteria. If you want, you could try to schedule an appointment with Hollywood’s Halitosis expert, who, apparently, charges nearly $3000 to analyze your breath and offer you solutions. However, proper oral hygiene, including regular dental visits, can limit halitosis. What Really Causes Halitosis Halitosis is due to the presence of anaerobic bacteria in the mouth. Anaerobic bacteria don’t breathe oxygen like you, I, and most animals on this planet. Instead, they process their food with sulfur. This means that, instead of exhaling odorless carbon dioxide, they excrete sulfur compounds with a terrible smell. Preventing Halitosis The key to preventing halitosis is to reduce the numbers of these anaerobic bacteria growing in your mouth. Oxygen is toxic to them, so they like to grow places where it’s hard for oxygen to reach them, between your teeth, around your gums, and especially below your gum line. Here’s how you can keep them under control: Thoroughly brush teeth, including around the gum-line. Remember, though, don’t be too aggressive, or you can irritate your gums. Floss daily. Make sure you’re getting down to and below the gum line and curving around each tooth. Make your regular oral hygiene and checkup visits to the dentist. Stay hydrated. Saliva is the number one inhibitor of all bacteria growth in the mouth, and if your mouth is dry, bacteria may grow more easily. This should significantly reduce your bad breath, though you may still experience it somewhat in the morning—saliva production reduces at night, allowing bacteria to grow. Still Have Bad Breath? If you still have halitosis after following the above steps, it may be a sign that you’re suffering from a potentially serious condition. You need to make a dental appointment to make sure you aren’t suffering from gum disease–an infection below the gum line that allows anaerobic bacteria to thrive—or an infected tooth—which may be full of anaerobic bacteria. If necessary, we can recommend gum disease treatment or a root canal to take care of these problems. Please contact Ascent Dental in the Cherry Creek area of Denver today for an appointment.