With St. Patrick’s Day comes celebrations, green beer, drunkenness, revelry, and, yes, fighting. While these activities may seem more like clichés than tradition, the reality is this: Teeth get knocked out on St. Patty’s Day. According to data provided to CNBC, emergency dental visits go up after this holiday – in fact, ER dental visits go off the charts at 64 percent nationwide, and the data is based on the average number of dental visits that occur on March 18 versus a full one-month average of dental visits.
According to the data provided to CNBC, March 18 is one of the top 10 busiest dental days of the year, and the spike can last two to three days. Dental visits during this time span are also more common in the male demographic. So maybe dental patients wait until after St. Patrick’s Day to schedule their teeth cleaning because they know they’ll be celebrating heartily the night before. Or perhaps the reasons for needing dental help are far more suspect.
Heed a few of these warnings to try to avoid your own emergency dental visit:
- Go green, but just for the day. Green beer and green foods abound for those who head out looking for fun on March 17, and it’s challenging enough to get green dye off of your skin, let alone your tooth enamel. When you’re struggling to get green food coloring off of your smile, a professional teeth whitening treatment may be necessary to get back to pearly white.
- Don’t overindulge. Of course it’s St. Patrick’s Day, and of course you want to try to drink like an Irishman even if you’re not, but no one needs to overindulge to the point of making bad decisions, like picking a bar fight. Fists and teeth are not a good combination, plus, heavy drinking can irritate your gums and tongue. Restorative dentistry and cosmetic dentistry may be necessary if you end up in fisticuffs.
- Wear your glasses. Clumsiness can account for plenty of dental emergencies. Partying in crowds or bustling from place to place, slightly or extremely inebriated, can account for face-plants on hard surfaces. A missing tooth or chipped tooth could be the result, and a dental implant or a porcelain crown may be your best solutions.
- Brush your teeth. OK, you celebrated, you’re tired, you just want to go to sleep as March 17 rolls to a close, but alcohol contains a boatload of sugars and acids. When combined with the natural bacteria in your mouth, the acid that forms as a result begins breaking down your enamel. Plus, alcohol dries out your mouth, and reduced saliva production means your teeth aren’t being washed off as often as they should be, creating an area ripe for cavities to bloom. Brush and floss before you go to bed!
Because St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Thursday this year, the risks of developing dental-related problems increases as some people choose to celebrate for a very long weekend. Or perhaps a bachelor party is scheduled around the holiday. Or maybe you’re drowning your sorrows in green beer because dating isn’t working out for you.
Whatever social situation you find yourself in this St. Patrick’s Day, do your best to make wise choices about alcohol consumption, driving, and taking care of your teeth. If you do find yourself in dire dental straits after a night of living it up, consider this your opportunity to finally put your oral health first, and invest in the dentistry solutions that can repair your current problems, and give you the smile that will give you a leg up at work or in love.
Make an appointment with Manhattan cosmetic dentist Dr. Michael J. Wei to learn more about the smile makeover solutions that will be your luck of the Irish.
