Don’t Let Your Teeth Get Hurt This Cold & Flu Season

Oct 18, 2010

Teeth Getting Hurt This Cold and Flu Season — ©WaveBreakMedia/Shutterstock.com

Three weeks ago I got a cold. I was just getting over it when we went up to Maine, and right when we got back I got sick again. I’m finally getting better, but my oral hygiene has been less than stellar over the past few weeks!

Now that the days are getting colder and shorter here in the northern hemisphere, it’s a good time to talk about how the common cold can affect your oral health.

I’ve actually come up with a variety of ways that the cold and flu can mess up your oral health. Here they are.

6 Ways the Common Cold & Flu Can Hurt Your Teeth

1 – We tend to drink acidic beverages when we’re sick. Water doesn’t sound very good when you’re sick. Many people drink lots of orange juice and soda pop (such as ginger ale) when they’re sick.

When I was little, my mom would always make me nice hot cups of what we called honey lemon water. It’s a slight variation on this recipe of honey lemon tea. I still drink it when I’m sick!

You can lessen the effect of acidic drinks on your teeth by drinking them quickly and then either drinking or rinsing your mouth out with water when you’re done.

2 – When you’re sick, you really don’t feel like brushing or flossing. When you’re sick, the first thing on your mind is getting better, not brushing and flossing. However, by taking a couple of minutes each day to take care of your teeth, you can prevent the build-up of tartar, which is a type of hard mineralized plaque that forms on your teeth if you don’t remove plaque daily.

3 – Inflammation of the sinuses can make your teeth and gums hurt. If you’ve got a cold and you’re stuffed up, your sinuses might not feel very good! The maxillary sinus is located right above your upper back teeth and can make them hurt.

There have also been reports of people’s gums hurting when they’re sick. This probably occurs because many people breathe through their mouths when they’re sick because they have a stuffy nose. This dries out the gums and irritates them. Another possible explanation is that your immune system is so busy fighting your cold that it’s harder for it to fight the bacteria in your mouth, thus causing your gums to get irritated.

4 – When you’re sick, your mouth gets dry. As I mentioned above, your mouth gets dry because you breathe through it more than usual when your nose is stuffy. Coughing can also dry out the mouth. A dry mouth allows sugar to hang around in your mouth and contributes to tooth decay.

Try to stay hydrated when you are sick as much as possible! When possible, reach for plain water instead of juices or soda pop.

To see why a dry mouth is bad for your teeth, read about how wonderful spit is!

5 – Cold medicine isn’t very friendly to your teeth. Cough syrups such as Dayquil syrup can stick to your teeth and cause cavities. Here’s an article that talks about how you can reduce the damage that cough syrup does to your teeth.

Many cold medicines, such as Alka-Seltzer, are acidic. Acidic drinks can dissolve the calcium that makes up the enamel of your teeth.

Cough drops are another culprit, but they don’t have to be. Just eat sugar free cough drops and you’ll be fine. Both Hall’s and Ricola make great tasting sugar-free cough drops that are much better for your teeth than regular cough drops, which contain a significant amount of sugar.

Rather than taking cough syrup, try substituting something in pill form. For example, DayQuil is available in a gelcap form that doesn’t contain all of the sugar that the syrup does. If you must have Alka-Seltzer, you might want to rinse out your mouth or drink water afterward to get the acid off of your teeth.

6 – Vomit is acidic and dissolves your teeth. Hopefully you don’t have to toss your cookies this cold and flu season. The stomach is the most acidic place in your body and when it’s contents come back up, they will dissolve your teeth.

After vomiting, the best thing to do for your teeth is to rinse out with water. You might be tempted to brush your teeth with toothpaste to get the acidic taste out of your mouth, but brushing can damage the enamel because it’s already been weakened by the exposure to your stomach acid.

Conclusion

Having a cold can hurt your teeth. Remember to continue your regular oral hygiene routine even when you don’t feel well.

Try to avoid cold and flu medicine that are syrups or contain lots of sugar. Pills and sugar-free cough drops are excellent alternatives.

If you do happen to throw up, remember to rinse your mouth afterward with water to wash away the acid.

If you have any other suggestions or any questions, feel free to add them in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!

Six Main Causes of Xerostomia or Dry Mouth

Dental Disorders & Disease

Oct 8, 2010

Causes of Dry Mouth Xerotomia — ©Carlos Castilla/Shutterstock.com

Dry mouth, or xerostomia to medical professionals, occurs in 25% of older adults and has even been reported to occur in 10% of adults in their 30’s. Dry mouth is a condition that can have a negative impact on your oral health. It also impacts your ability to eat food and speak, and has been said to cause bad breath.

Basically, if you have dry mouth you are missing out on many of the benefits that your spit provides to your mouth.

I’ll talk about all of the effects of dry mouth in a future article. What I want to talk about right now is what causes dry mouth. Dry mouth is caused by a variety of different factors. I’ve listed six main causes of dry mouth, which you can find below.

Six Causes of Dry Mouth, Xerostomia

1 – Medications – This is one of the most common causes of dry mouth. There are literally hundreds of medications that cause dry mouth. Some of the more common ones are anti-depressants, sedatives, beta-blockers, high blood pressure medication, antihistamines, and cold/flu medications. Other drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol, can directly dry out the mouth.

Learn more about 348 medications that cause dry mouth.

2 – Anxiety, Depression, or Stress – These conditions have been shown to cause dry mouth. The best way to treat it is to find effective ways to manage your anxiety, depression, or stress.

3 – Diabetes – There is some debate whether diabetes causes dry mouth or not. Here’s what the book Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology by Neville has to say about diabetes and dry mouth:

Xerostomia, a subjective feeling of dryness of the oral mucosa, has been reported as a complaint in one third of diabetic patients. Unfortunately, studies that attempt to confirm an actual decrease in salivary flow rate in diabetic patients have produced conflicting results. Some studies show a decrease in salivary flow; some, no difference from normal; and some, an increased salivary flow rate.

4 – Autoimmune Diseases such as Sjögren’s syndrome, HIV, and Graft-versus-Host disease. Sjögren’s syndrome causes dry mouth and dry eyes. In other immunologic diseases, it is suspected that the body’s immune system is attacking the salivary glands, thus decreasing the amount of saliva that is produced.

5 – Radiation treatment to the head and/or neck area – Radiation treatment to the head and neck area can cause damage to the salivary glands. Some of the glands can recover and produce saliva normally after radiation treatment. The biggest salivary gland, however, usually has trouble recovering and can be permanently damaged, leading to chronic dry mouth.

6 – Hormone changes – Hormonal changes occur with pregnancy and menopause in females. These hormonal changes have been associated with dry mouth. If you are pregnant and experiencing dry mouth, your dry mouth should resolve once your baby is born. If you have dry mouth associated with menopause, you may want to see your dentist to see what kind of treatment is available.