How Cutting Alcohol Boosts Your Oral Health and Overall Wellbeing - Zental
As December dawns closer and we gear up for the festive season ahead, many of us find ourselves dreaming of champagne, eggnog, mulled wine, all our holiday favourites, with, well, copious amounts of alcohol. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that an estimated 175,000 people in the UK participated in Dry January, or “Drynuary,” in 2023 in an effort to atone for their December indulgences.
While the physical and psychological benefits are likely numerous, there are plenty of ways sobriety benefits your oral health, too. The beneficial effects of ditching alcohol are not just limited to helping unpickle your liver but also work wonders in improving your oral health.
Effect of Alcohol on Oral Health
A higher risk of tooth decay and gum disease (periodontitis)
Excessive drinking can lower the pH of your saliva, making it more acidic and harmful to your teeth. Heavy drinkers experience dry mouth at night, which leads them to consume higher levels of refined carbohydrates to satisfy their “munchies.’’ They are also more prone to neglecting both personal and professional oral health care. All of these factors contribute to increasing their risk of cavities.
Risk factor for oral cancer
Alcohol is the most important risk factor for oral cancer. Evidence suggests that the culprit for the increasing incidence of oral cancer, particularly in younger people, is increased alcohol intake rather than tobacco use.
Chronic bad breath
Your body breaks down alcohol into various byproducts, one of them of which is acetaldehyde, a compound that gives off a strong, pungent smell.
Oral bad breath also occurs in alcoholics as a result of periodontitis and the build-up of debris on the tongue. Alcohol dries up the mouth, creating the perfect environment for the bad bacteria to thrive and multiply. It also messes up the delicate balance of bacteria in your mouth. Both of these situations give rise to an oral malodour.
Tooth staining
Most alcoholic beverages, for example, dark spirits, red wine, and coloured cocktails, contain chromogens and tannins that can bond to the tooth enamel and discolour your teeth. These drinks are also acidic, which means they can wear out your enamel and reveal the darker layer of dentin underneath.
If you’re struggling with tooth decay or gum issues like bleeding or swollen gums, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. At Zental, we are dedicated to helping you achieve good oral health.
Benefits of Alcohol Abstinence for Your Oral Health
The most notable advantage of giving up alcohol for your oral health is that it can improve the salivary flow rate in your mouth. A better saliva flow fixes a lot of issues associated with drinking alcohol. It decreases your chances of developing cavities, gets rid of bad breath, and improves gum health, reducing the likelihood of periodontal issues. Not to mention, steering clear of alcoholic drinks will significantly reduce your risk of cancer and keep your teeth stain-free.
Effect of Alcohol on Your Overall Well-being
When you consume alcohol in abundance, it increases levels of potentially harmful particles, the free radicals, which can increase LDL or the “bad” cholesterol in your blood. Once you stop drinking, these free radicals start to get removed from the body, consequently improving your heart health. What’s so wonderful about this is that you can start reaping these benefits as soon as the very next day after you ditch drinking.
Your Heart and Liver Will Thank You
Reducing alcohol consumption can significantly improve heart and liver health by reducing the strain these vital organs endure. Cutting down on alcohol consumption reduces the risk of fatty liver disease, inflammation, and scarring (cirrhosis), which can progress to liver failure if left unaddressed. By moderating alcohol intake, you give these organs a chance to recover, enhance their functioning, and lower the likelihood of long-term damage. Within a month or two after quitting alcohol, your liver enzymes start to normalise, improving your overall health and well-being.
You Will Be Able to Deal With Stress Better
Alcohol disturbs the balance of chemicals and processes in your brain, affecting your thoughts and feelings and potentially triggering anxiety, anger, and depression. It may also affect your long-term mental health. In addition to that, drinking alcohol disrupts your sleep patterns, making stress harder to deal with.
Studies show that long-term alcohol use causes your body to release higher amounts of stress hormones, cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone, which can make it harder for you to cope with stress.
Scaling back on alcohol can help you sleep better and wake up more refreshed the next morning.
How to Make the Most of Dry January
Starting the month with a few helpful strategies in your back pocket and setting goals — may help you get the most out of the challenge.
Here are a few tips that can help:
Take the time to reflect
Stop and reflect on your drinking habit. Ask yourself why and when you most crave for a drink, and find alternatives to fill the gap.
For starters, you can try replacing your daily drink with soda, a mocktail, or sparkling water. When you do decide to drink, eat something with it. When drinking at a bar, ask the bartender to reduce the amount of alcohol in your drink. These tips will slow the rate of alcohol entering your system, which can help you be more conscious about the drinks you do choose to consume.
Considering what kind of alcohol you’re drinking can also make a huge difference. The higher the alcohol percentage present in a drink, the greater the effect it has on your body. Try ordering a lower-alcohol beer rather than a martini next time you’re in the mood for a drink.
Identify and address your triggers.
Habits are always cued by certain environments or situations that lead us to repeat them at the same time every single day. For example, you might have dinner while watching an episode of some TV show you like. You usually have food at the same time, in the same place every day.
Drinking habits are no different. They’re also shaped in a similar way. Understanding and identifying the cues — the place where you usually drink, who you’re with, what you drink, and disrupting them — is really important to change habits.
If you find that you are more prone to drinking around certain people or in specific settings, reassessing your social life can be helpful. Consider trying new activities that are not alcohol-centric, giving yourself the opportunity to expand your horizons rather than depriving yourself of alcohol entirely. Next time you make plans, maybe you could hang out with friends in a restaurant instead of a bar or go out for coffee instead of for drinks.
Create a support system.
Let your friends know that you will be taking a month off from drinking. When they know you’re abstaining that month, they won’t put you in situations where your alcohol temptations can get the better of you.
Keep track of your drinking.
Keeping track of your drinking throughout a night out can be as simple as taking notes on your smartphone or a pocket diary. This simple step can help you remain conscious about your drinking and prevent it from getting out of control.
Find friction points.
Sometimes, having to put in extra effort or giving extra time to activities that have become a habit for you greatly reduces the likelihood of you actually doing that activity. You can use this to help yourself achieve your goal of ditching your drinking habit. Storing alcohol or wine glasses in places that are hard to reach creates enough friction for you to end up abstaining from drinking.
Reward yourself.
Instead of going to a bar to rewind after a long week, try planning something else. Treat yourself to a pedicure or a movie night with a friend instead. When you have a fun activity planned ahead to look forward to, it will reduce your chances of resorting to your usual habit of drinking on the weekends and make the month feel less like a slog.
Set realistic goals.
Don’t take on more than you can accomplish. And don’t set too many New Year’s goals that are way too ambitious for you to achieve. For example, doing Drynuary while going on a strict diet or starting a strenuous new exercise routine may be a recipe for failure.
Some days, you may end up drinking more than you intended to. On those days, show yourself compassion. At Zental, we believe in adopting a moderation-based approach to guarantee more sustainable drinking habits that you are more likely to stick to.
Dry January and Better Drinking Habits in the Future
Along with so many other health benefits, Dry January also helps break ingrained drinking habits, such as having a glass of wine every day before bed or right after work.
According to a 2016 study, Britishers who had participated in Dry January drank alcohol on average one fewer day per week, even six months later, and had nearly one drink less each day they did drink, compared to how much they drank before the alcohol break.
In other words, beyond the immediate health benefits, Dry January may help you break your drinking habits and give you an opportunity to make healthier choices long after the month of January has ended.
Practising mindfulness, or becoming more aware of your drinking habit, is another great way to help you control it. Tallying the amount of alcohol you’re consuming and why and when you’re drawn to drinking it can help with scaling back on the habit. Drinking consciously can automatically make you become more trained to decide when to opt for alcohol and when to refrain, gaining you a sense of control over your drinking.
Even if you don’t become entirely sober, moderating your drinking can still have loads of benefits for your systemic and oral health. And adopting mindful drinking strategies can certainly help with that.
The Takeaway
In addition to offering your mind and body a chance to reset and reflect after the seasonal exhaustion, Drynuary can significantly improve your oral health and have a positive impact on the overall quality of your life. And as holistic dentists, that’s exactly what we strive to achieve for our patients: A healthy mouth, a healthy body, and a healthy life.
Bringing awareness to your drinking habits might prompt you to ask yourself if you even need to drink at all. You might find yourself asking questions like, ‘Why do I feel the need to drink that much?’ ‘Does a drink make me feel a certain way?’ When you become mindful of your habits, it makes it easier for you to break those that are harmful to you.
Binge drinking can wreak havoc on your dental and general health. Make the right choice today, and save yourself from a lot of pain, discomfort, and trouble later on. For more oral care advice, click here to book a consultation and talk to an expert.
