Tips to stay healthy this cold and flu season

January 6, 2011 — Cold and flu season is here and staying healthy is on everyone’s to-do list. Margaret Mitchell, DDS, owner of Mitchell Dental Spa, offers the following helpful hints during cold and flu season.

• Sanitize your toothbrush. If you are sick, put toothbrushes in dishwasher to sanitize or simply buy a new one to refrain from having sick germs reenter your body.

• Keep toothbrushes from touching each other. Keeping germs from cross-contaminating on toothbrushes helps your body and mouth stay healthy as flu/cold germs are contagious.

• Wash drinking cups often. If you have a cold, make sure to wash bathroom drinking cups to sanitize them and stop the spread of germs to others.

• Take sugar free cough drops. Take sugar free cough drops to help with colds; cough drops containing sugar can cause tooth decay

• Don’t lick/bite your lips. Winter weather makes your lips chapped and when licked or bitten, the natural moisture of your lips evaporates and the protective layer on your lips is removed.

• Keep hands clean. Make sure to wash hands regularly to get rid of germs. Also, when at stores, use your own pen, rather than the store’s communal pen, when signing your name to keep from spreading/contracting germs and illnesses.

• Drinks a lot of water. Water helps keep you hydrated which helps keep your immune system fighting illnesses.

Source: Mitchell Dental Spa, www.mitchelldentalspa.com