Sober October: exploring alcohol and oral health

Manrina Rhode discusses the impact of alcohol on oral health, and why October is a valuable time to evaluate our relationship with alcohol.

We are in October, and October is now Sober October as well as Stop-tober. So, it’s a really healthy month for us to be looking after ourselves and making really good choices leading up to that busy Christmas and New Year’s time that’s coming at the end of the year.

I was very familiar with with Stoptober and I was very familiar with Dry January, but Sober October was a new thing to me and I was very pleased to hear about it.

I don’t think that alcohol is doing any of us any favors. What’s interesting, and what I have found more and more in practice, is that drinking is less of a cultural problem.

I don’t know what the stats are behind that, but I have found within my own clinic with the patients that come in that younger patients in their 20s or or 30s on their medical history often don’t drink, or they drink a lot less.

And it doesn’t seem to be the same culture that it was maybe when I was in my 20s where there was that real Friday night binge culture of, ‘we’re finished work, let’s go sit in the pub for five hours and drink’ even having a glass of wine in the evening after after a difficult day of work.

How does alcohol make us feel?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t drink massive amounts, but I do love a glass of wine or a drink in the evening – not every night, but maybe once or twice a week.

I go through phases where I will decide not to drink and I feel good, I feel fresh for it. And even as I get older, I find that I want to drink less and I feel better for drinking less.

So, I think taking that time out, consciously exploring this in October, gives us all a chance to see how alcohol makes us feel, and also think about how unnecessary it probably is.

If it’s part of a ritual that you have, for example drinking a glass of champagne, there are some really lovely alternatives. We have come across a sparkling tea recently that’s very much like champagne, and you can buy it in Harrods and Daylesford, and they encourage you to drink it in a champagne glass.

And so it looks very much like champagne and you have a sip of it and it still feels very nice, but it’s tea and you’ve got the added antioxidant benefit.

Anyway, I feel like I just talked very personally about my experience with alcohol and my enjoyment of it, but also how I feel like it’s quite a good thing to not have in your life.

Alcohol and oral health

Let’s talk about its impact on the oral cavity.

There are direct links between alcohol intake and oral cancer. I think we all understand the risks of sun damage and skin cancer and the risk of smoking and oral cancer, but maybe not as much with alcohol.

Maybe it’s depending on how much you’re drinking, whether that means that you had a drink or a few at night and then didn’t brush your teeth or go through your full oral hygiene regime before you went to bed, and how that would impact your oral health and physiological health in the long-term.

There is growing research about the undeniable connection between bacteria in the mouth and the systemic impact on blood pressure, diabetes and various other ailments or inflammation within your body.

And then also diet. You drink alcohol and then it’s natural for your liver to crave fats. Then how are you getting those fats? Are you binge eating sugary foods, or are you eating late at night? Are you drinking Coca Cola and other drinks or foods that would not be great for your oral health? And then are you not cleaning your teeth perfectly afterwards?

I think these are all things to think about.

Reevaluate

We are here in this lovely month, and I think it’s a really good time of the year to reevaluate as we’re coming to the end of the year.

If you are smoking, then definitely stop smoking – you’re not doing yourself or anyone any favours. And if you’re drinking, then hopefully it’s it’s under control. If it’s under control, you might just want to step back and take a month out for it.

I would encourage us all to do that and and see how we feel for it. Because if we feel better, then why would we go back?

Catch up with previous Aesthetic Dentistry Expert columns:

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Visit Manrina’s website here: www.drmrlondon.co.uk.

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