New Year, New You: 5 Resolutions You Can Make for a Healthier Smile
With the new year comes a fresh start which is why so many people use it as an opportunity to make New Year’s resolutions. There’s no better time to step back and evaluate the things you want to improve and begin working toward the person you want to become. Although each person’s resolutions are personal and unique, there seems to be a few resolutions shared by many people. According to Statistic Brain, the top ten New Year’s resolutions for 2017 were:
- 1Lose weight/eat healthier
- 2Make self/life improvements
- 3Make better financial decisions
- 4Quit smoking
- 5Do more exciting things
- 6Spend more time with family/close friends
- 7Work out more often
- 8Learn something new
- 9Do more good deeds for others
- 10Find the love of my life
Of the 41 per cent of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions, only 9.2 per cent feel they successfully achieve their resolution(s).
One of the keys to setting and achieving New Year resolves to make them attainable and measurable. Like when setting a goal, if you don’t make your resolution something you can actually achieve and something you can measure your progress toward, you’ll be much less likely to achieve it.
Making Resolutions for a Healthier Smile
Based on the statistics above, it seems like many Americans make resolutions to be healthier and take better care of their bodies. Although a lot of those resolutions might be made specifically with weight loss in mind, there are a lot of different (and other) important ways that you can improve your health, even if it’s by just doing the basics.
If you’ve resolved to take better care of your body, don’t forget about the health of your smile. Here are five things you can do to help you get a healthier smile and start the new year off right.
1. Choose The Clear Path
Juice, coffee, and soda all taste great, but they can wreak havoc on your teeth. Unless the water is your favourite beverage, this resolution might be hard to stick to, but choosing water over sugary, acidic drinks will help save your teeth from the damage that the acid, sugars, and dyes in those beverages can cause. It might even help you lose a little bit of weight since you’ll be cutting back on the sugar some of those drinks have.
2. Go Fresh
Drinks aren’t the only thing that can cause issues for your teeth and smile. Eating certain foods can cause just as much damage. The best option to protect your teeth and cultivate a healthier smile is to choose fresh, clean, natural, and/or organic foods wherever possible. You already know that eating healthy is better for your body, but it’s the better option for your smile too.
3. Brush and Floss Daily
It’s something that has been drilled into you since you were a young child. Although it may have been annoying and inconvenient, there were better reasons to brush and floss daily than to make your parents happy. Brushing and flossing daily, as recommended by your dentist, can help strengthen your teeth and protect them against cavities while whitening and brightening your smile.
4. Don’t Ignore Pain
Pain is a way for your body to tell you that something is going wrong. Whether it be a pain in your tooth from a developing cavity or pain from aching gums, it’s important to pay attention and have any pain looked into and taken care of before the issue gets bigger. If you’re experiencing pain, don’t write it off – visit your dentist as soon as possible to get it resolved and get back to feeling like your healthiest self.
5. Visit Your Dentist Regularly
There’s a reason that it’s recommended that you visit your dentist every six months for regular cleanings and checkups. Making regular visits can help prevent any developing issues and concerns like cavities and make it easier to maintain the health of your teeth and smile.
If you’ve made New Year’s resolutions to improve your overall health, don’t forget to mind the little things as well. From getting regular exercise to making sure you get enough sleep and ensuring that you take proper care of your health, you can feel like the best version of yourself with a healthier, brighter smile.
What are some of the other resolutions you’ve made for this upcoming year? How do you plan to achieve them?
