Even though we have had a LOT of rain recently, ‘Dry January’ seems to be the conversation topic de jour with my patients this first week back at work and since I’m partaking in Dry January as well (I know I know I’m doing the Veganuary thing too *eyeroll) I thought I would take a look into how drinking alcohol effects our gums and see if they are thanking us for giving up our Friday night G&T.

The big question is, how much is too much? There are lots of campaigns around this time of year with the aim of influencing us to stop drinking alcohol for a bit. Sober for October, No Drinks November - yes it’s a thing, and Dry January being the main ones.

Dry January seems to be one of the most popular for a few reasons, we’re all trying to cutback in January, cut back on costs, cut back on calories and for a lot of us its been very easy to overindulge in alcohol over the festive period. We’ve all been there, out with friends, some of which we havent seen for ages, out with work, going out midweek, the crimbo limbo where all the days roll into one and we have no concept if time so it seems perfectly acceptable to open a bottle of wine when someone calls round at 3pm. That kind of thing.

Personally, I have a really low tolerance level for alcohol and suffer from absolutely horrible hangovers so I am more than happy to sign up for 31 glorious alcohol free days by the time January rolls round.

The government guidelines for alcohol consumption in the UK advise

“for BOTH men and women, it is safest not to drink more than 14 units of alcohol in one week on a regular basis”

— drinkaware.co.uk

The stumbling block is this 14 units business, confusing AF. I ask all of my patients if they drink alcohol and how much alcohol they drink over the course of the week. Its really awkward to have this conversation, a few people have been really rude to me when I have asked, I just have to get over this because its part of my job. The fact of the matter is hardly any of my patients could count exactly the amount of units they are drinking over the course of the week. Now the graphic above tries its best, but lets be realistic about this…

So basically 14 units is

6 pints of Coors Light but equally could be just over 3 pints of craft beer
4 glasses wine is realistically probably more accuarate, but it can be really depend on the person pouring so I find the best way to judge wine is by the bottle, which is about 10 units
5 ‘signature serve’ G&Ts when you are out in a bar. Not 14. 14 Gin and Tonics might sound like fun at the time but its not ok.

I think you will agree that it is VERY easy to exceed the government guidelines ESPECIALLY as these are reccomended to be taken over the course of a week. Excess alcohol consumption will effect your risk of mouth throat and breast cancer as well as effecting your fertility so aside from the gums its really important to watch how much you are consuming. Probably the best things to do are

Drink alcohol along side a meal
Alternate alcoholic drinks with a soft drink or water
Invest in a measure set to use at home of spirits and wine to stop the all too tempting free pour at home

OK, so we’ve had a bit of a wake up call with the units, probably not what we were expecting but lets be brave and in the words of Jennifer Aniston, here comes the science bit.

There are lots of studies related to drinking alcohol and Gum Disease, but I’ll summarise some of the more recent ones below.

Alcohol consumption has been proved to be an independent and modifiable risk factor for Gum Disease, basically, drinking alcohol will directly increase your chances of developing Gum Disease. AlSharief et al took this one step further proving in 2018 that this will be the case especially if you have a deficiency in B12.

Sankaranarayanan et al in 2019 found however that light to moderate alcohol use was not thought to be associtated with an increase in pocketing round the teeth, in other words the patients in her study who were monitored over 4 years didnt seem to develop Gum Disease/ their Gum Disease didn’t get any worse. She did find however that smokers who drink alcohol showed significant progression of Gum Disease and that women were more likely to develop Gum Disease by drinking alcohol alone than men.

This brilliant woman was at it again in 2019 when she concluded that there is no difference in the type of alcohol consumed and your chance of developing Gum Disease, just the amount. So pick your poison, literally.

Most of the studies I have looked at for this blog have been carried out over a long period (a longitudinal study) or have been a study which has looked at multiple other studies that have been carried out previously (a meta analysis) in terms of scientific research, these things make the results we have seen pretty watertight. Drinking alcohol is a risk factor for developing Gum Disease and the more alcohol you drink, the more likely it is that you will get Gum Disease.

Don’t forget though, that drinking alcohol is not the only risk factor, I have plenty of patients who are T-total who have a multitude of gum issues so even if you don’t drink alcohol at all, or if you are abstaining this January you will still need to follow a gold standard oral hygiene routine, as outlined by your Dental Hygienist.

So yes stopping drinking alcohol will reduce our risk of developing Gum Disease and gum problems but even reducing our alcohol consumption and trying to stick to the government guidelines of not more than 14 units over the course of the week will definitely help reduce the risk, not to mention the other health benefits. Plus no more dreaded hangovers. Halleluiah.

Just remember though, these decisions are completely up to you, this is only advice, a lot of which I could take on board myself. If you ever need any advice on alcohol consumption or need someone to talk to you can find some more information out from your GP or on the drink aware website.

If you’re still going with Dry January well done, you’re doing great! You’re getting healthier and reducing your risk of developing Gum Disease. Nice one. After January remember if doesn’t matter what type of alcohol you drink, just how much you drink so try to keep an eye on it if you can, be that guy with the phone app start a trend. If you slip up you’re only human.

Now, I’m off for a tonic water! Cheers!

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jcpe.12556

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030057120900116X

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/154405910308200704

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00016357.2019.1626479

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jicd.12418

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/eos.12610

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-facts/alcoholic-drinks-units/latest-uk-alcohol-unit-guidance/