Tips to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions & Improve Your Overall Health

Posted on November 18, 2025 in Healthy Living

Key takeaways about keeping your health-focused New Year’s resolutions:

• Planning ahead, focusing on manageable actions, and tracking progress can help you stick to your New Year’s resolutions and build lasting healthy habits.
• Sharing your health goals with others, celebrating milestones, and adjusting your approach after setbacks can keep you motivated and on track.
• Strengthen your overall health by improving your daily brushing and flossing routine, maintaining a well-balanced diet, limiting alcohol and tobacco, and keeping up with regular dental visits.

Setting health-focused New Year’s resolutions is a time-honored tradition representing hope, ambition, and the drive for self-improvement. However, as the weeks and months pass, sustaining the enthusiasm and commitment to achieve these goals can become a challenge.

In fact, data suggests that only nine percent of people stick to their New Year’s resolutions.

Don’t let previous New Year’s resolution missteps stop you from accomplishing the health-focused goals on your vision board this year. Discover some simple and effective ways to help stay on track.

Improving oral health as a New Year’s resolution 

If you haven’t already decided on a New Year’s resolution for the coming year, consider a goal to improve your oral health.

While it might not seem as exciting as traveling the world or joining a gym, the benefits you’ll gain from a more consistent oral hygiene routine can lead to lasting benefits for your overall well-being.

Simple ways to improve your oral health in the new year

Examine your current oral health routine: Are you brushing and flossing your teeth correctly? If not, it’s time to update your oral health care routine. Make sure you’re brushing your teeth twice a day with an ADA-approved toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste. 

Check out this blog for step-by-step brushing instructions.

Additionally, flossing once a day helps clean parts of your teeth and mouth that a toothbrush cannot reach.

Be mindful of your diet: If healthy eating fell off during the holiday season, now is the time to get back on track. Small changes, like limited snacking or eating more nutritious foods that are good for your teeth, can help improve your oral health during the year.

Limit alcohol and quit tobacco: It may be common to overindulge in alcohol during the holiday season, but this overindulgence may lead to problems for your teeth. 

According to Penn Dental Medicine, “Many cocktails and ready to drink beverages use sugary mixers that can coat your teeth’s surface, leading to tooth decay over time. And beer, red wine and white wine, and cider all contain acid that will slowly dissolve enamel, leading to sensitivity or pain.”

As the new year begins, try to reduce the amount of alcohol you consume to protect your oral health.

Pro tip: If you treat yourself to alcoholic beverages, remember to wash out your mouth with a glass of water to remove any sugar left on the teeth.

Tobacco products also damage your oral health and can lead to long-term overall health problems, such as oral cancer. If you’re using tobacco products, now is the time to quit.

Click here for the Iowa Tobacco Quitline. 

Go to dental appointments: While a good oral health routine and nutritious diet play a role in keeping your teeth healthy, they aren’t a pass to skip dental visits. The dentist can clean areas in your mouth that a toothbrush or floss cannot reach, plus they can detect serious medical conditions such as diabetes and oral cancer. Going to preventive dental check-ups and cleanings is a major step you can take to improve your oral health in the new year.

Find a dentist today.

Oral health is important all year round

Whether you’re setting New Year’s resolutions or simply looking to make positive and healthy lifestyle changes, improving your oral health should always be a priority. A healthy mouth contributes to better physical health, boosts your confidence, and even supports your mental health.

Discover why oral health is important in “Creating Lifelong Oral Health Habits Starts at the Dentist”.