10 Dental Care Tips For The Healthy Teeth

Dentists emphasise the significant impact of good dental care in enhancing oral hygiene and improving your daily routine for healthier teeth.

When you care for your gums and teeth, there’s no doubt that you’ll have a beautiful, healthy smile. Plus, oral conditions can be kept at bay.

Here are ten tips that can help you maintain a healthy mouth condition;

Brush your teeth the right way:

Everyone brushes their teeth. This daily ritual may look simple; however, doing it properly is rewarding. You shouldn’t only brush the visible part of your teeth but clean the hidden parts like the areas near the tongue.

Another mistake in teeth brushing is not cleaning the part of the teeth closest to the gums – this is one place that plaque can accumulate. So, for proper brushing, touch every part of your teeth surface to avoid missing the crucial areas. A dental hygienist London can offer more advice.

The rules don’t always apply:

You can go beyond the acceptable standard of brushing two times a day for two minutes, particularly where food particles are stuck between your teeth.

Take a break for an hour if you brush after eating breakfast or lunch, particularly after having acidic food or drink. Brushing immediately will erode your enamel which the acid has softened in food.

At night, bacteria are more active since saliva flow is less. So, ensure you brush before going to bed to lower bacteria attacks.

Floss regularly:

Two out of the five surfaces of a tooth are not clean without flossing, even with proper brushing. This increases the risk of tooth decay and gum disease following plaque formation.

Before brushing, floss once daily. Hold a good amount of floss in your hands and wrap it around your tooth in a C-shape. Slide it down carefully between the tooth and gum to take out plaque. Repeat for the opposite side. Do the same for the other teeth.

You can floss at any time, but doing it at the day’s end leaves the mouth bacteria-free.

Use interdental brushes:

Where you’re using restorations like crowns or dental implants, you’ll need an interdental brush or water flosser to thoroughly remove bacteria between the teeth and under the gum line as regular flossing may not work.

Be careful of mouthwash: 

Don’t substitute brushing or flossing with mouthwash. Plaque cannot be eliminated with mouthwash. Go for alcohol-free fluoride mouthwash if you need one, and use it after lunch.

Avoid using a mouthwash right after brushing – you’ll lose all the goodness of the fluoride toothpaste. Choose mouthwash carefully as some can stain teeth.

Try a sonic toothbrush:

This option is more effective at cleaning the teeth than a conventional toothbrush and electric toothbrush. When it comes to brushing strokes, the electric toothbrush delivers 2,500 to 7,000 strokes/minute, while the sonic counterpart offers 30,000 brush strokes/minute.

The built-in timer that comes with good quality electric or sonic toothbrush ensures your brushing meets the required time and at the right pressure. You may brush too hard or soft with a manual toothbrush. The former can cause gum recession and the latter unclean teeth.

Keep sensitive teeth safe:

Tooth sensitivity may develop from teeth grinding to gum recession and other factors. Contact your dentist in this case.

Avoid brushing too hard at the gum line if your teeth are sensitive. This can expose the dentin and cause sensitivity. Rather than going for a quick treatment, use special toothpaste for sensitive teeth. This offers more long-lasting benefits.

Whiten your teeth cautiously:

Age-related tooth darkening and stains from foods and drinks like red wine, tea, coffee, and turmeric can give the teeth an unpleasant appearance. Whitening toothpaste will remove, no doubt, surface stains on the teeth, but they’ll deteriorate the enamel and make the teeth darker with time.

Be careful to receive teeth whitening only from professionals – the results will be impressive. Anyone who’s not a dentist and prescribes whitening treatment is doing so illegally.

Eat healthily:

Sticky and sugary foods are home to bacteria. Plaque feeds on the sugar in food and releases acid, making tooth enamel weaker and causes decay. If you must eat sugared food, do so right after a meal. Be careful of healthy snacks – they can be sugar-filled, for instance, dried fruits.

Carbonated drinks will erode the enamel, so drink less of these. Saliva, which is the natural protection against bacteria, can be produced copiously by chewing gum post meals.

Eat fewer snacks:

Tooth decay is tied to snacking. The habit of snacking puts your teeth in danger of an acid attack. Saliva may fight off the effect of acid, but too much snacking will make your teeth susceptible to decay and cavities.

Visit our dental clinic London for an oral examination today.