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Tips on How to Stay Cavity-Free in Your College Days

Frat party, anyone? While the college years are notoriously a time of wild abandon and carefree experimentation, it’s important to remember not to abandon proper oral hygiene while experimenting with your newfound freedom.

One of the most common features of college life is alcohol. Unfortunately for the goals of proper oral hygiene, most alcoholic drinks have a sugar content that can contribute to tooth decay. While in college, it may be fun to try different combinations of alcohol mixed with sodas or juices, but the truth is that these mixed drinks often have a high sugar content or worse, a high citric acid content. Citric acid erodes tooth enamel and thus promotes tooth decay. Even beer and sweet wines have sugar that, without a proper oral hygiene regimen of brushing and flossing, can lead to tooth decay.

So what can you or the college student in your family do to avoid tooth decay while still enjoying all the drunken frivolity that college life has to offer? One of the easiest things is to simply maintain the regimen of proper oral hygiene you’ve always followed. Brush and floss your teeth twice a day, especially after meals and definitely before bedtime. If you’re prone to just passing out on your bed after a hard night of drinking, leave your tube of toothpaste on your pillow to make simply crashing a bit more uncomfortable. It only takes a few minutes to brush and floss – or at least to brush, if you can only manage the one task – and at least you will have made some effort to fight tooth decay before passing out.

In addition, while you’re out partying with your friends, you can reduce the effects of sweet alcoholic beverages on both your teeth and your morning-after body. Water is one of the easiest hangover-prevention tools at your disposal, yet it is also among the most frequently overlooked. Alcohol consumption dehydrates the body, making it less able to handle large doses of alcohol and making it more likely, too, that you will be hung over and miserable in the morning. Swishing water around in your mouth after sugary alcoholic beverages will help to detach the sugars that promote tooth decay from your teeth. Swallowing the water you’ve swished, or simply drinking water intermittently during your alcohol binge will help your body cope with all the alcohol and you won’t feel the effects of your night out on the town so severely the next day. Also, chewing sugarless gum helps to increase the saliva flow in your mouth, which in turn rinses away sugars and decreases the overall latent acid content which can lead to tooth decay. So while you’re in the cab, hopping from bar to bar, freshen your breath for that chance encounter of the love of your life and also help your teeth to stay cavity-free with a stick of sugarless gum.

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