Surviving the silly season: your complete guide to keeping your teeth safe (and sparkling) this summer

It’s mid-December. The emails are slowing down, the Out of Office auto-replies are being turned on, and the social calendar is bursting at the seams. It is officially the "silly season" in Christchurch.

For most of us, this is the best time of the year. It’s a time for family, long sunny evenings, and indulging in the kind of food and drink we usually try to avoid. But while you might be taking a holiday, your bacteria certainly aren't. In fact, for your teeth, December and January can be the most stressful months of the year.

Between the constant grazing, the sugary cocktails, and the potential for "backyard cricket injuries," our team at Duxton Dental often sees a spike in emergency calls right when everyone should be relaxing.

We don’t want you to be the person sitting in the dental chair while everyone else is at the beach. So, we have put together your ultimate summer survival guide. Here is how to navigate the Christmas feast, avoid the most common holiday dental injuries, and enter the New Year with your smile intact.

The truth about "grazing" (and why your dentist hates it)

Christmas Day (and the weeks surrounding it) is often defined by the "grazing table." You know the one—crackers, dips, sweets, fruit, and pavlova left out for hours.

While this is delightful for your stomach, it is a nightmare for your enamel.

Here is the science bit: Every time you eat or drink something sugary or starchy, the bacteria in your mouth feast on it and produce acid. This acid attacks your tooth enamel.

Usually, your saliva neutralises this acid and repairs the microscopic damage. This process takes about 20 to 30 minutes. However, if you are constantly grazing—popping a grape here, a cracker there, a chocolate an hour later—your saliva never gets the chance to recover. Your mouth stays in an acidic state all afternoon, which is the fast track to decay and sensitivity.

The fix: feast, don't graze

We aren't saying you can't indulge! We are just suggesting you change the frequency.

• Eat in bursts: Try to stick to main meal times or dedicated snack times rather than picking continuously for four hours.
• The cheese board hack: Here is a tip you will love. Cheese is fantastic for your teeth. It helps neutralise acid and is high in calcium. If you’ve just eaten something sweet or sticky, finish with a piece of cheese. It acts as a natural buffer for your enamel.

The "Prosecco problem": navigating summer drinks

It wouldn't be a Kiwi summer without a few cold drinks in the sun. Whether it’s a glass of bubbles, a gin and tonic, or a cold soft drink, many summer favourites are a double whammy of sugar and acid.

Carbonated drinks (even sugar-free ones) are acidic. Alcohol causes dehydration, which reduces saliva flow (your mouth’s natural defence system). When you combine the two—like in a prosecco or a cider—you are bathing your teeth in an acid bath.

The fix: hydrate and straw up

• Water between wines: This is the golden rule for avoiding a hangover, but it also saves your teeth. Swishing with water between alcoholic or sugary drinks helps rinse away the acid and sugar.
• Use a straw: If you are drinking something particularly acidic (like a cocktail or soft drink), using a reusable straw can help bypass your teeth, limiting the contact with your enamel.

Please, step away from the ice

If there is one thing we could banish from summer, it would be the habit of crunching ice.



We know it’s tempting when you have finished your drink on a hot 30-degree Canterbury day. But ice is a crystal structure, and so is your tooth enamel. When two hard crystals crunch against each other, one of them has to break. Often, it’s the ice. But frequently, it’s the tooth.

Ice crunching is a leading cause of microscopic craze lines (cracks) in teeth, which can eventually lead to a piece of the tooth shearing off completely.

The fix: let it melt

Just let it melt. Or, if you need that cold sensation, sip ice water. Don't crunch.

The "bottle opener" is not in your mouth

We see this happen every single year. You are at a BBQ, someone hands you a cold beer or a cider, and you can’t find the bottle opener. In a moment of madness (or showing off), someone decides to use their molars to pry the cap off.

Please, we beg you: don’t do this.

Teeth are designed for chewing soft-to-medium food, not for levering metal off glass. Using your teeth as a tool is the fastest way to shatter a tooth, expose a nerve, and end up needing an emergency root canal or extraction on a public holiday.

The fix: be the hero with the keyring

Put a bottle opener on your keyring today. You will be the hero of the BBQ, and you will save your smile.