All living things need water to survive.

In terms of overall wellness drinking water daily is essential to your overall health including your oral health. We hear it often, drink more water, but do you really know why? Let us break down some of the main reasons why drinking water is so beneficial.

HYDRATION

Our bodies are roughly 60% water so it is extremely important to keep our cells hydrated and replenish the water we lose throughout the day. You lose water through perspiration, urination, bowel movements and simply by breathing. The amount of water lost in a day depends on your activities and lifestyle. If you are very active physically you may lose more water than someone who is more sedentary. For your body to function and do the things it needs to do you must replenish that water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water. If you don’t replenish the water supply adequately you will become dehydrated and even a mild form of this condition can leave you with very low energy and fatigue. Proper hydration also ensures your joints are properly lubricated, helps rid the body of waste, helps maintain skin elasticity, helps protect sensitive tissues and regulates our body temperature.

BENEFITS FOR YOUR ORAL HEALTH

Drinking an adequate amount of water can have a big impact on many factors of your oral health as well. It helps keep your mouth clean, washes away some of the debris from eating meals and snacking, and also helps wash away some of the sugary residue left behind should you drink or eat foods that contain higher amounts of sugar. These sugars if left to linger on the teeth can wear down your tooth enamel making them vulnerable to cavities.

Water helps prevent dry mouth. Dry mouth creates the perfect environment for tooth decay. Drinking water helps promote more saliva production and saliva is a superhero at defending against decay with its protective minerals such as calcium and phosphate.

Fights bad breath. Water helps wash away the debris left behind from eating and reduces or eliminates dry mouth and the bacteria build up it causes which automatically creates fresher breath and who doesn’t want that?

How Much Water Should You Drink?

This really depends again on your lifestyle, level of activity, environment (during the summer when it is hot you may perspire more than in the winter and require more replenishing of fluids), your health (if you are sick with a fever or diarrhea you may need more fluids then usual). You may also need more fluids when you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Tips to Help You Drink More

If you think you need to be drinking more, here are some tips to increase your fluid intake and reap the benefits of water:

  • Have a beverage with every snack and meal. You’re likely to drink more liquids if you like the way they taste. So if you need to add some flavour to your water you can add some slices of fresh fruit, mint leaves, ginger, cucumber slices and have fun with a variety of flavour enhancers.
  • Keep a bottle of water with you in your car, at your desk, or in your bag.
  • Another great tip to simply increase your fluid intake and promote a healthy diet is to eat more fruits and vegetables. Their high water content will add to your hydration. About 20% of our fluid intake comes from foods. Just remember to brush your teeth after eating fruits since they do contain some sugar that can hang out on your teeth.

So we raise our water bottle and say cheers to good hydration, optimum health, fresh breath and healthy smiles!