Kissing Under the Mistletoe – Prepare to Pucker Up

‘Tis the season for festive festivities and reminiscing with family and friends. Whether you’re standing under the mistletoe or possibly planting a smooch on a loved one’s lips, my dental office in Columbia wants to help ensure your kiss is fresh and clean this holiday season.

Brushing and Flossing

Be sure to spread holiday cheer not jeers this season by making sure to not skip your regular, daily brushing and flossing routine. Food and treats are usually pretty plentiful this time of year, so it’s important to make sure your teeth are consistently clean. Proper care helps wash away food debris while attacking plaque build-up head on to maintain fresh breath. Don’t forget to brush twice and floss once daily to keep bad breath at bay. If you do this correctly, your breath will be fresh and ready to share a kiss or a conversation.

Tongue Tied

While brushing and flossing help keep breath smelling great, don’t forget about your tongue.  This magnificent muscle helps us eat the foods we love and communicate with those we care about, so don’t forget to show it some TLC during your daily brushing routine. We always remind patients to do a thorough tongue brushing or scraping. This helps to remove dead cells and unwanted food particles causing bad breath. It’s a quick step to improve your breath and overall oral health. Questions or concerns? Contact my Columbia dental team. We’re always happy to help and our tongues are never tied.

Stress Less

This time of year can wreak havoc on our calendars, our body and our oral health. Holiday parties, tons of travel, and an overall end-of-the-year burnout can lead to unwanted stress and bad breath. Remember to eat right, drink plenty of water, get adequate rest, and continue to exercise. A healthy body ensures your breath will be ready for every conversation and kiss that comes your way.

No matter what time of year – a healthy smile and fresh breath are always best. Give my Columbia dental office a call anytime to discuss your oral health. Together we can resolve any issues and discuss possible treatment options. Happy holidays from our family to yours! We look forward to seeing you and your healthy smile in 2016.

Welcoming patients from Columbia, Elgin, and Lugoff.

Alternative Uses for Dental Floss

Dental floss. If you’re a patient at my Columbia dental practice, we know for sure that you have it in your medicine cabinet for use during routine, at-home dental hygiene. But did you know that it might be a good idea to keep some rolls in other rooms of the house as well? You might even want to keep it in your glove compartment!

Why? Because floss has to be strong and flexible enough to fit in between your teeth without breaking, and it’s strong and flexible enough to perform all kinds of other tasks that string or thread might not be capable of handling.

Of course we have our own favorite uses for dental floss, but we have also scoured the internet for creative and handy tips for even more uses. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Protect your walls: Use it instead of wire to hang pictures. Dental floss will not scratch or scrape paint the way wire does.

• Support delicate plants: Floss is strong and slightly stretchy, making it the ideal way to tie your plants and vines to a supportive wooden dowel.

• Use it as an emergency shoelace: Again because of its flexibility and strength, dental floss can handily replace a broken shoelace

• Reattach a button: Another great emergency use of floss when no thread is available.

• Make a camping clothesline: It’s actually strong enough to hold several bathing suits and t-shirts!

• Lift cookies from a tray: Many spatulas are too thick to get under a stuck cookie without crumbing it. Dental floss is thin and flexible and easily slides under cookie to loosen them. Try lifting a whole row!

We'd love to hear other uses you might have for this amazing string. Tell us at your next appointment! Speaking of which: Is it time to schedule a hygiene appointment at my dental practice in Columbia? You know we'll supply you with a new roll of handy floss!

Welcoming patients from Columbia, Elgin, and Lugoff.