Step Up Your Oral Health Care During Cold and Flu Season

Are you ready to enhance your smile by protecting your teeth and gums during cold and flu season? Unfortunately, a cold or the flu often brings individuals to a standstill with their oral health. Thus, it is important to make sure you’re always taking the time to assess your smile even when you’re sick. In fact, when many individuals come down with a cold or the flu, they may partake in additional actions that make things worse.

When caring for your teeth and gums, it is important to make sure that you ensure that a healthy amount of saliva continues to flow in your mouth. When you’re sick, you may find yourself taking medications that produce dry mouth as a side effect. This situation can limit the amount of saliva in your mouth needed to wash away bacteria. In order to combat this, try chewing sugarless gum or routinely drinking water to stay hydrated. With the help of saliva, you can neutralize acid and debris that will be harmful if allowed to linger in your mouth. Saliva has even been proven effective for neutralizing the acids that travel up into your mouth after vomiting.

Caring for your smile when you’re sick includes understanding the detrimental effects of medications you may take. If you are taking cough drops or other liquid medications, always know the sugar content. If they are high in sugars, they can further damage your teeth and gums. Thus, always use sugar-free products. In addition, if you do end up vomiting, never brush immediately after doing so, as your teeth may be highly sensitive and your toothbrush and toothpaste may be overly abrasive.

Do you wish to see a dentist in Simi Valley, California for oral health care during cold and flu season? If so, our team at Konstantinos Proussaefs DDS Inc can help. Dr. Konstantinos Proussaefs and our team can give you a complete oral examination to determine which oral health care treatments during cold and flu season are best for you and your oral health care needs. To book a trip to our dentist office, call us at 805-422-3116 to schedule an appointment.