As far as festivals go, for someone of a relatively young age, I’ve done ’em all (well, maybe not all…) but I’ve been to a fair few, and in these past couple of weekends I’ve attended both Truck Festival in Oxfordshire and 2000 Trees Festival in Gloucestershire. I got to see lots of bands, some of which I’d never heard of before, but now have the privilege of knowing. (And some that I’d rather never hear again;) But besides all of that, it was the friendships that I made that will hopefully last me for years to come. In fact, I’d say that the frolics in the campsite meant more to me than the acts themselves! There was however one thing that really caught my attention, and that was the large amount of young people (18-30 or so years old) with unhealthy looking teeth; I began to ponder this as I lay in my cozy sleeping bag while the party outside never seemed to end, and it came to me, the reason why these young people appear to have so many issues with tartar buildup and rotting teeth is because they drink so frequently, so late into the night. As you may know, alcoholic drinks contain a very high level of sugar, and when sugar is in contact with our teeth, plaque bacteria in our mouths feed on the sugar, some of the bacteria turns the sugar into a kind of glue that they use to stick themselves to the tooth’s surface and then in turn, the byproducts of this feeding, and the sugar break down and essentially become acidic, rotting the tooth. But not only is the sugar in these drinks a problem; alcoholic drinks are also immunosuppressant, which means that it lowers your immune system’s defenses to fight infection and disease, and also while your body is busy looking after your liver and other areas that the alcohol is causing damage, often the mouth becomes a lower priority to your body’s natural defenses.
It seems that the best way to avoid this would be to cut out sugary foods and drinks entirely, but we’re only human, and simple basic oral hygiene is all we really need to stop ourselves from a life of damaged or missing teeth; a toothbrush, some toothpaste and some floss really doesn’t take up much space in your holdall or backpack, and remember the kind of things about taking care of your teeth that your dentist or hygienist drills into you (if you’ll pardon the pun!) That way, when you’re going to festivals, like me, you can eat as many greasy burgers, bacon butties, and drink as much Pimms as you like, without fear that you’re building up to irreparable damage to your teeth.
Your teeth are designed to last you for a lifetime, take good care of them.
