At a young age, you learn that the human body consists primarily of water and that you should replenish your body by drinking water to stay healthy. Dehydration can lead to medical problems, including your oral health.
To avoid dental concerns, you should drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water each day. Knowing the specific benefits of staying hydrated can help you keep up with this habit. Read on to learn about three ways that drinking plenty of water will keep your smile looking and feeling its best.
How Does Staying Hydrated Help My Smile?
Enhance Your Oral Hygiene
Throughout your busy day, the natural bacteria in your mouth create a film of plaque over your teeth. If left on your smile, plaque can eat away at your teeth and leave you vulnerable to tooth decay and gum disease.
You brush your teeth and floss regularly to get rid of plaque. But you consume substances between these oral hygiene regimens that contribute to plaque formation.
If you drink a glass of water, you can rinse lingering food particles from your mouth before they can form plaque. This will lower your risk for many dental problems and keep your mouth feeling fresh. You can also reduce the chances of forming bad breath this way since food will be gone from the mouth before it can deteriorate and create an odor.
Fight Dry Mouth
One symptom of dehydration is a decline in saliva production. This leads to an uncomfortable condition called dry mouth. Not only does this issue make your mouth feel sticky, but it can increase your risk of dental issues.
Bacteria can spread with greater ease across your teeth when you have dry mouth. This means you will more likely contract oral infections like gum disease. Advanced gum disease will leave you with puffy and swollen gums that can eventually lead to tooth loss.
To preserve your smile and spend less time in your dentist’s chair, you should take preventative measures when it comes to your gum health. Drink plenty of water to fight dry mouth, avoid infections, and keep your smile healthy.
Get the Most Wellness Benefits
If you feel thirsty, choosing water to drink can give you many health and wellness benefits compared to other beverages, especially when it comes to your dental health. Water contains zero sugar, unlike many popular soft drinks. Sugar notoriously hurts your teeth, eroding tooth enamel and leading to cavities.
You should drink water to prevent these dental issues, but you can also strengthen your smile with this beverage. Water can contain fluoride, a natural substance that absorbs into tooth enamel to fortify the teeth. They can better resist plaque and surface stains to stay healthier for longer with this benefit.
Drinking water helps the rest of your body function as it should. As oral health often correlates with your overall well-being, you should keep your body healthy if you want your smile to remain strong and beautiful too.