Dental Tips For College Students

When you go off to college, you'll have more to think about than staying on top of your classes. You'll also want to keep in mind that many college students gain weight due to their bad eating habits they take on once they are no longer eating that home cooking they enjoyed at home. With all that fast food and junk food also comes other risks and one of those includes a lot of possible dental problems. This is why you want to make sure you try your best to watch what you eat and take proper care of your teeth. This article has been created as a short guide to dental care for the college student.

Determining which foods are bad for your teeth

While it's true that sugary foods are bad for your teeth, which you likely already know, there are other foods that are also bad for them. Any foods that stick to your teeth are very bad. All the foods held on your teeth form bacteria that will cause plaque while sugars also attack. This means that certain foods, even peanut butter, are bad for your teeth.

While you are aware of candies being bad for your teeth, you may not realize that sour candies are even worse for them. With the sugar that candies already have, sour candies also have the added ingredients that make them sour and those are acid based. The acid is hard on your teeth and will eat away at the enamel, while the stickiness holds that acid against them.

You also want to think about the way your body reacts to certain foods. Bread is one food you might not realize is bad for your teeth; it seems harmless enough. However, your saliva will convert the starch of bread into sugar while the gummy paste of the bread holds that sugar to your teeth.

Knowing when a situation is an emergency

Keep up with routine exams and cleanings. However, equally as important is knowing what a true dental emergency is, so you don't put off critical dental care. Any injuries to your teeth should be treated as emergencies, causing you to head straight for the dental office. Chips, breaks, and fractures allow cavities to come on extremely fast. Loose teeth put you at risk for tooth loss. For knocked out teeth or seriously broken teeth, an after hour trip to an emergency dentist should be considered.


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