Put Sugar At The Bottom Of Your Christmas Shopping List!

Planning ahead for Christmas can help you to significantly reduce sugar consumption.

At Mike Allen’s Dental Practice, we are firm believers that prevention is better than the cure. Whilst we can perform many corrective procedures to restore a damaged or decaying tooth, there is no doubt that all of our patients would prefer there to be no need for any treatment at all.

Naturally, good cleaning and flossing are essential to achieve this, as are regular checks and hygienist sessions at our Burton dental practice. One area that many of us fall down on though, is our high sugar diet.

Christmas consumption

As the Christmas adverts are now starting to appear frequently on TV, and as many people will shop in advance for some of the non perishable food items in order to spread the cost, we thought that we would take a look at how you can reduce your sugar intake at this time, without taking away all of the fun too.

Essentially, there are two approaches to this type of shopping; the one that says ‘eliminate all sugar’, or as far as possible, whilst the other suggests reducing it whilst still enjoying the pleasures of Christmas.

No sugar diet

It is possible to have a sugar free Christmas, or almost sugar free anyway. Of course there is no need to use sugar for the Christmas turkey, and you can now also buy sugar free Christmas puddings.

Sweets can be replaced with nuts, cheese and fruit, although you should remember that fruit also contains sugars, albeit natural ones, and more than a few teeth have been chipped or broken on stray pieces of nut shells!

Reduced sugar diet

‘Christmas is Christmas’, and we are realistic in that we know that very few people will adopt a completely sugar free diet over the holidays. However, there are many simple ways to reduce your sugar intake to help prevent dental problems and also reduce the weight loss issue in the New Year!

With a little research, which is now straightforward online, why not spend a little time finding out which chocolates, cakes and biscuits etc contain the least sugar? The same with alcohol and soft drinks too. Even small changes in these areas can make a significant difference when added up over the festive period and reduce the risk of needing dental fillings, or worse.

Even if you don’t wish to abandon sweets things, there is no harm in alternating these with healthier options such as cheese. In fact, cheese is useful as it helps to neutralise acids in the mouth that can harm your teeth. Mind the calories though!

Remember too, that however tired, (or tipsy?!) you are, you must remember to clean your teeth well before going to bed. Failure to do so exposes the teeth to acids for a long period of time whilst you sleep.

Finally, we are always delighted to see new patients from the Burton area at Mike Allen’s Dental Practice. Why not make it a New Year’s resolution to book a full mouth ‘MOT’, especially if you’ve neglected your teeth for some time? Appointments can be made by calling us on 01283 845345.