How College Can Affect Your Oral Health
Your oral health is one of the most important things you should be maintaining especially if you’re in college. At this time in your life, you’re now considered to be an adult and excuses just won’t cut it anymore. No more parents holding your hand and no more teachers pleading with you to come to class. The decisions a college student makes will determine who the student will be. College is supposed to be exciting, fun, and a challenge in itself and during this time, many students seem to put their oral health on the back burner. Brushing, flossing, and regular trips to the dentist are all on you. Unfortunately, this is when young adults let loose and decrease their interest in oral hygiene. Here are some of the biggest culprits that are destroying your pearly whites while you’re away at school.
High Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol, when consumed in excess or day to day drinking wrecks havoc on your oral health. Wine drinkers tend to have stained teeth coloring, but for those who abuse this acid based content; decayed teeth, precancerous lesions, and periodontal disease will begin to manifest it’s ugly head slowly but surely. Alcoholic drinks are full of acids and sugar which eats away at your tooth enamel. It’s sort of like beach erosion. A few waves back and forth isn’t bad, but if there are entire days or weeks of constant wave action crashing ashore; that pretty beach sand/tooth enamel will wear down.
Poor Diet
College students tend to not have the best diets and pretty much snack all day long. Potato chips, candy, soda, cakes, and pies are consistently being eaten on a daily basis. Besides the high amounts of sugar and salt these products possess, many of these products are brittle and rough which will damage your teeth. Hard potato chips like Cheetos or Jolly Rancher candy will weaken the teeth and cause them to crack overtime. Also students aren’t eating enough produce such as celery, carrots, cheese, vitamin c, green leafy veggies, and vitamin d.
Laziness/Procrastination
For some reason with many college kids, this is a time where they become very complacent and just don’t care. Brushing becomes an afterthought and flossing takes too much effort. Frankly, young adults will do their daily oral routine whenever they feel the need to and will come up with every excuse for not doing it. “I’ll brush in the morning, maybe tomorrow, or starting Monday it’s on.” These stalling techniques might not bother you presently, but months and years later you’ll regret not taking preventative measures for protecting your oral health
It basically comes down to this. You don’t have to be a health nut or a tooth junkie to maintain proper oral care. If you can’t brush twice daily, make sure to do it once a day. Cut down on the alcohol, eat healthier foods, and picture how much all of this dental work is going to cost in a few years.
