Notes on winter illnesses
Gum health and the common winter cold
Hello and Happy New Year! By now, you are probably inundated with optimistic goal-setting posts from all over in your email inboxes. While we share the sentiment that a new calendar year is an excellent place for new beginnings, we also appreciate that January isn't the one for most people. We don't mean to sound negative, and if it is a great time of the year to begin health or life goals, please do so but also, please remember that this time of the year is one of low energy, low finances, a low mood which results in low immunity. This brings us to today's topic, the flu or illnesses that go around at this time of the year.
Whether over-socialising brings your energy levels down, sleep cycle disturbance over the Christmas and New Year break, or overindulgence in sugar, alcohol and possibly caffeine. Keep in mind that it is a dark low natural light exposure time of the year. All of the above likely contribute to low mood and lower immunity. So it's not surprising that all our catch-up conversations involve talks of either getting ill or recovering from illnesses during the break.
While catching a cold or flu won't impact your gum health directly, it will affect your oral health through reduced immunity. It may also result in blocked sinuses, which will dry the mouth out through mouth breathing (isn't mouth breathing one of the worst symptoms of getting unwell?) and have you reaching for more salty and sugary food to revive your blocked taste and smell receptors. Your saliva may also be drier due to medications to help contract the symptoms or antibiotics to treat the infections. There is also likely to be more bacteria or virus load present, which may facilitate the growth of bacteria that can harm gum health. This a repeating pattern every year that often a period of flu or cold precedes the beginning of gum disease.
Here are our tips to ensure a period of flu/cold/feeling unwell doesn't result in gum issues.
Keep Yourself Hydrated. Hardly groundbreaking but is highly important. The dry mouth and blocked sinus benefit from fluids. Water is best, but you may also have soups, broths and herbal teas. Chicken soups, ramen, phos, and yakhani should all be your magic potions. Just a note on lemon water- while it will help hydrate, it is highly acidic and may damage teeth if consumed in large amounts.
Don't Skip on the Oral Hygiene Habits. This may seem like a chore when you are already feeling unwell and have low energy, but keeping up to date with oral hygiene habits will reduce the bacteria load in the mouth. This will likely impact the body's overall burden of bacteria and viral load. Outside the brushing and cleaning interdental, we also recommend scraping your tongue. The tongue can harbour excess bacteria, which are usually flushed by saliva. But if saliva is reduced, they may persist and cause issues later. They will also impact flavour.
Take a Short Course of Probiotics ( especially if you've had an infection that required antibiotics). An infection is likely to create an additional challenge on your body's defence pathways. It is becoming more and more apparent that immunity and gut bacteria are peas in a pod. So it's only logical to look after the gut bacteria when feeling run down. While the research is still catching up, a short-term course of probiotics may help to boost gut bacteria (and indirectly immunity for general and gum health).
Prioritise vitamin D and natural light exposure. We've covered this in detail before but briefly; in the winter months, Vitamin D insufficiency is presumed in the UK and Ireland due to lack of natural sunlight exposure. Vitamin D is needed for optimal mood, immunity and bone function. Increased illnesses and colds in the winter month and insufficient vitamin D levels in the body are thought to be linked. However, research currently doesn't have enough evidence to provide a robust conclusion. It is recommended that amounts lacking in the body are replenished through diet and supplementation. Sources of vitamin D in food include eggs, small oily fish, mushrooms and fortified foods such as cereals. Adding mushrooms and eggs to ramen or broth or anchovies as a base for tomatoey sauces for pasta or bean soup may be a great way to incorporate these foods.
Visit the Hygienist after you have recovered from the illness. If you've been reading us for a while, you will know and appreciate the importance of hygiene visits as more than just a clean or polish. It is the best form of preventive dentistry within the dental practice. After recovery from the flu or cold, a visit to the Hygienist will reset your oral, resulting in reduced inflammation and bacteria in the mouth. It will also be an early detection point if deeper issues requiring further treatment have arisen while you've been unwell.
We hope you've found these tips helpful, and as always, we welcome feedback, comments and questions. We wish all our readers a year of health ahead.
