Many people are trapped with pre-conceived notions that dental and oral care is limited to brushing your teeth and all other dental care procedures you undergo during that brushing trip to the sink. It is conceded that while brushing your teeth isn’t rocket science, it is not as simple as it looks. From selecting a soft-bristled toothbrush, to brushing your teeth for at least three minutes, to brushing your teeth in a circular motion, dental care facilitated by the toothbrush can never be underestimated.
However, there are other things aside from brushing that you can do in order to make sure that you’re always putting your best smile forward, and keeping your dentist happy.
Floss Daily.
It’s true. If your toothbrush can ever have another trusty partner beside the toothpaste, it’d be the dental floss. Flossing daily may seemingly be an inconvenience, but flossing complements brushing your teeth in a way that other dental care implements cannot. Flossing helps eliminate plaque and food residue in between teeth and near the gum line that, unfortunately, brushing can oftentimes neglect and overlook. Make sure, though, to be generous with your use of dental floss—use clean portions as you go along.
Should you have any doubts as to whether or not you’re flossing correctly and sufficiently to back up your brushing, ask your doctors about available floss implements to assist you, and perhaps even ask him or her if you’re doing it right.
Use a mouthwash for good measure.
Nothing says clean teeth like fresh, mint breath that’s attributed to mint toothpaste and to a good mint mouthwash. However, while the fresh breath effect of mouthwash is very temporal, it does not preclude the fact that most mouthwash brands available in the market contain active ingredients that kill bacteria in the mouth. These bacteria in the mouth are those that feed on the plaque and food residue left on the teeth, eroding them and causing them to decay. Mouthwash can help kill these bacteria and thus facilitate as well in keeping your teeth free from tooth decay.
Keep off the soft drinks and beverages with artificial sugar.
Soft drinks and other flavored beverages may be flavor-friendly, but they’re hardly ever friendly to your teeth. For starters, soft drinks are acidic drinks and by their very nature, have the capacity to erode teeth. Recall that many of the simple children’s science experiments substitute soft drinks or cola for other acidic substances used in cleaning coins, which entails eroding the rusty, dirt layer around old coins. With that in mind, it seems like soft drinks is something that you should be consuming a lot of, if at all.
Moreover, the sugars in these soft drinks and flavored, artificial beverages, when they interact with the bacteria in your mouth, increase the production of acid and hasten the erosion and degradation of teeth.
Clean your teeth in the absence of a toothbrush.
There are occasions when a toothbrush is not in sight. However, these are not excuses to not clean the teeth after a meal. A good way to clean your teeth in between brushes (especially because it’s recommended you brush your teeth for at most three times) is to rinse your teeth with water after a meal. You may also chew on many of the readily available sugar-free gums that contain active ingredients to fight plaque and keep them off your teeth.
Stock up on calcium; go easy on the starchy food.
Starch-based food items break down into smaller sugar components during mastication, and these sugars are what fuel the existence of bacteria in your mouth and cause tooth decay. Going easy on starchy food and staying away from food that have the tendency of sticking to your teeth while being impervious to brushing (like some caramels) may help make sure that your eating habits do not sustain organisms that will destroy your teeth.
On the flip-side, what you should have more of are milk, eggs, and cheese. These food items contain a lot of calcium, which help build stronger bones and teeth. By stocking up on calcium, you help strengthen the teeth, making them harder and less susceptible to decay and degradation.
I hope these things if properly kept in mind will help to minimize dental problems and help you retain the white smile of good and healthy teeth forever.
