The smiles doesn’t just consist of your teeth and gums; your lips are also an important part of the equation. During the summer months, you need to be particularly mindful of how often your lips are exposed to the sun, as they’re particularly vulnerable to UV rays compared to the rest of your skin. Keep reading to learn more about how to protect your lips from the sun and why it’s so important to do so.

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Why Do My Lips Need Extra Sun Protection?

The layer of skin on the lips is much thinner than it is on the rest of the body, and it contains less melanin. Both of these factors mean that the lips can’t protect themselves from the sun very well. Naturally, that can lead to a sunburn, but it can also put you at risk for skin or oral cancer. In other words, not taking care of your lips when you spend a lot of time outside can lead to potentially painful and life-threatening consequences.

Moreover, if your lips become sunburned, then brushing and flossing are going to become much more uncomfortable tasks, and oral cancer can have a serious impact on your overall oral health.

What Can You Do to Protect Your Lips?

The best answer is to invest in an SPF lip balm. Many such products have an SPF of 15, but ideally you should look for an SPF of 30. The American Cancer Society has found that SPF 30 blocks 97% of harmful UV rays while SPF 15 only blocks 93%. That might not seem like much of a difference on paper, but when it comes to the effects of the sun’s radiation on your skin, that extra bit of protection could end up being vital.

You should reapply your protective lip balm every 2 hours. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water as well – at least 8 glasses a day. You don’t want to become dehydrated or for your lips to dry out because you spent too much time outside on a hot or sunny day.

What if Your Lips Become Sunburned?

In the event that your lips are sunburned, you can try to find relief by dipping a washcloth in ice water and applying it to your lips. Petroleum-free moisturizers can also help. You might want to take anti-inflammatory medications as well. See a doctor if your sunburn doesn’t go away after 3 to 5 days.

It’s important to protect your lips not just during the summer but throughout the entire year. During your next checkup, talk to your dentist about how your lips relate to your oral health and what you can do to take better care of them on a daily basis.

About the Practice

Here at Bethel Dental, we follow an oral healthcare formula of providing state-of-the-art, fully personalized treatments along with the best customer service possible. We strive to offer a truly comprehensive dental experience, which is why we offer an oral cancer screening at every checkup. To schedule an appointment with us, visit our website today.

Dental implant failure is very rare. In fact, it only occurs about 5% of the time. Of course, that doesn’t negate the fact that it’s a problem that needs to be addressed immediately if you want to have any hope of saving your newly restored smile. A loose dental implant is one of the most common forms of implant failure, so it’s essential that you be able to recognize the risk factors and know how to deal with the condition if necessary. In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know to be prepared to deal with loose implants.

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The big advantage of ClearCorrect aligners is that they’re transparent, so no one else will know that you’re even wearing them. However, your aligners are susceptible to staining, and if that happens your smile will certainly start drawing the wrong sort of attention. That’s why you need to pay close attention to your oral hygiene habits when caring for ClearCorrect. Below are X tips that will help you keep your aligners free of food particles and harmful bacteria.

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1. Create a Morning Hygiene Routine

You need to keep your ClearCorrect aligners in your mouth at night, which means bacteria will gather on them while you sleep. Thus, cleaning ClearCorrect should be one of the first things you do in the morning. Take the aligners out and give them a thorough brushing. Make sure that your teeth are clean as well before you put them back in. For optimal hygiene, you should repeat this process at night just before bedtime.

2. Rinse Your Aligners Whenever You Take Them Out

Your aligners have to be removed whenever you eat or drink anything besides water. Before you put them back in, however, you should take the time to gently rinse them in cool water. This washes away any saliva or plaque that has built up during the day; regular rinsing will prevent excessive accumulation that can lead to serious damage.

3. Don’t Eat or Drink with Your Aligners

While ClearCorrect has no diet restrictions, you still need to take your aligners out at mealtimes. If you don’t, then colorful foods and beverages could end up leaving stains on the plastice. (It will also damage the aligners, possibly breaking them and disrupting the whole treatment.) Even if you’re just getting a snack, you should still take the time to remove your aligners first.

4. Keep Your Aligners in Their Case

When you take out your aligners, you shouldn’t leave them exposed to the air; this can cause harmful bacteria to form on them. Instead, place them in their case and keep them there until you’re ready to put them back in. In the event that you don’t have access to your case and are forced to leave aligners in the open, make sure that you give them a thorough rinsing before you put them back in.

5. Use the Right Kind of Cleaner

While scrubbing your ClearCorrect, you need to carefully choose the kind of cleaner you use. Obviously there are cleaning products made specifically for ClearCorrect, but hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and distilled white vinegar can also get excellent results when mixed with water.

Your dentist probably has other tips for keeping ClearCorrect clean throughout your treatment; make sure that you call them right away if you have any concerns about your own habits. Protect your aligners so that you can keep your smile looking great while your teeth are slowly being straightened.

About Bethel Dental Clinic

Personalized care, skilled doctors, excellent customer service, and advanced technology – all of these things are vital components to the Bethel Dental Clinic’s approach to dentistry. Our practice offers ClearCorrect for those who are unhappy with their less-than-straight smiles. To schedule a ClearCorrect consultation or learn more about the process of keeping aligners clean, visit our website.

On the surface, ClearCorrect and braces have similar goals: they are both meant to move the teeth, straighten smiles, and correct uneven bites. But even though they both make the same kind of corrections, they do so in different ways – and they both have their own pros and cons to consider before you commit to treatment. Below, you can learn some important facts that can help you answer the question of ClearCorrect vs. braces when it comes to which treatment is right for you.

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Is it any wonder why so many adults are reluctant to get braces even when their teeth are crooked? Because the braces are permanently stuck in place and are readily visible to anyone who sees your smile, they have an unavoidable influence on the quality of your life and can leave you feeling very limited in what you can do. The following 4 freedoms of ClearCorrect can make your orthodontic treatment a much more positive one that puts control back in your hands.

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When you’ve finished off a refreshing beverage, the temptation to start crunching on one of the ice cubes left at the bottom of the glass can be pretty strong, especially on a hot day. But while it might be refreshing in the moment, chewing on ice can mean serious trouble for your smile later on, especially if you’ve made a habit of it. In this post, you’ll learn more about the dental dangers of chewing ice as well as some tips that can help you stay cool without putting your teeth at risk.

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Your dentist will ask all kinds of questions during your biannual checkups, such as “Are you brushing regularly?” and “Have you noticed anything unusual in your mouth?” But if you want to keep your smile as healthy as possible, it’s important to take initiative, and that sometimes means asking questions on your own. During your next dental appointment, try asking some of the 6 questions below and see what your dentist has to say.

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Your morning routine probably looks like most people’s: get up, get dressed, have breakfast, then brush your teeth. You’ve probably done this so often that it’s already a deeply ingrained habit. But did you realize that a simple change to your morning routine might make a huge difference to your oral health? Many dental experts are now saying that brushing your teeth before breakfast may be more beneficial than waiting until after you’ve already eaten. Read on to learn how timing can make a difference while brushing and what would actually be best for your smile first thing in the morning.

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Sugar is one of the biggest threats to your oral health, putting you at severe risk for tooth decay. To keep your smile safe, you may resolve to cut sugar out of your diet as much as possible – but that might be trickier than you think. Many people are genetically disposed to sugar addiction, resulting in them binging on sweets and soda. If your sugar cravings are making it hard for you to take good care of your smile, here are 5 tips that can help you get them under control.

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Toothaches, bleeding gums, and bad breath are all classic hallmarks of poor oral health. It goes without saying that if you don’t take care of your mouth, your smile will suffer the consequences. But what many people don’t realize is that the consequences of not keeping up with their oral hygiene can spread to the rest of the body if the bacteria in the mouth enter the bloodstream. If you need some extra motivation to visit the dentist for checkups and cleanings, here are 5 serious health problems that have been linked to poor oral health.

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