The first week of December is National Handwashing Awareness Week. Why is that a concern of your dentist? Because, most dental professionals are concerned with more than just the health of your teeth and gums. They want your entire body to be healthy. As we enter cold and flu season, they are especially concerned with respiratory illnesses that can be gotten through the mouth. Your Greenfield dentists, Drs. Bagley, Goodwin, and Hrinda, celebrate Handwashing Awareness Week by offering these tips and suggestions for your hands to help you avoid getting sick this winter.
Wash Your Hands
Since childhood, you’ve probably been told to constantly wash your hands—before meals, after using the restroom, and whenever they get dirty. Even for adults, that is excellent advice. Bacteria can easily transfer onto your hands when you touch anything contaminated, such as doorknobs, computer keyboards, and other people’s hands. The bacteria can also transfer off your hands onto whatever you are holding—including your food. To avoid transferring bacteria to your food, make sure you wash your hands with hot, soapy water for at least 20 seconds.
Avoid Coughing and Sneezing Into Your Hands
Coughing and sneezing is the body’s way of expelling unwanted substances. The natural inclination of people who are about to cough or sneeze is to use their hands to cover their mouths, ensuring that those unwanted substances and bacteria end up right back on the hands, where they can spread to others or even back into your own body. Instead, try to always have a disposable tissue available to catch the discharge from your cough or sneeze. If one is not available, instead of using your hands, use your sleeve instead. And, of course, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly as soon as you are finished coughing and sneezing.
Don’t Touch Your Mouth, Nose, or Eyes
No matter how thorough you are when you wash your hands, some bacteria will remain, ready to enter your body at its first opportunity. Your face happens to have several openings leading to perfect environments for those bacteria to grow and thrive. Bacteria love the inside of your mouth, nose, and eyes. Therefore, it is a wise idea to avoid delivering the bacteria on your hands to those openings. Avoiding touching those parts of your face with your bare fingers would dramatically cut down on respiratory infections.
Let Your Greenfield Dentists Help You Stay Healthy
For more helpful suggestions on how to stay healthy throughout the holidays and beyond, contact our Greenfield dentist office by calling 413-772-0842. We provide comprehensive dental care for patients in the Western region of Massachusetts, close to the surrounding states of CT, NH, VT, and NY. Our patients come from the surrounding towns of Deerfield, Conway, Shelburne Falls, Turners Falls, Northfield, Amherst, Northampton, the 01301 zip code and surrounding neighborhoods