Taking Care of Your Teeth

Preventive measures are important when considering your oral health. Your home dental procedures and habits play a vital row in prevention of inflammation, tooth decay, and other problems linked to oral hygiene. While it is recommended that you visit your dental care professional twice a year, there are many things that can be done at home to ensure that your mouth and teeth are well taken care of.

Flossing
Flossing is an important part of primary tooth care. When paired with daily brushing, it makes for a sure-fire routine to combat gum disease, bad breath, and tooth decay. Flossing is the most effective way to get hard-to-reach plaque in difficult areas that a toothbrush cannot reach—in between teeth where bacteria and other debris tend to accumulate.

Floss is a firm string that now comes in a number of varieties for patient preference. There is floss that is waxed or waxed, regular or wide, and it can even come flavored. Pre-threaded floss threaders are also available who have a difficult time reaching into their mouths or have to provide oral care for another person. These threaders are also useful to people who need to get under the contacts of the bridge because of teeth restorations. Threaders can injure the gum area because they are less flexible than traditional flossing so extra care should be taken when using them.

Flossing should be done twice a day before brushing. Follow these instructions for optimal flossing:

1. Break off about 18 inches of dental floss.

2. Wrap the majority of floss around one of your middle fingers, and the smaller amount around the other. This should allow you to grab the floss between your thumb and forefinger of each hand, with about an inch of floss ready to use.

3. Insert the floss between two teeth using a gentle sawing motion. Make sure that the floss is taut when doing this so that you will be able to scrap the sides of teeth.

4. Scrape the floss up and down five or six times along the side of the tooth, making sure that you slide the floss up into the gum line until you reach a slight resistance.

5. Repeat on the adjacent tooth.

6. Repeat steps 1-5 for the rest of your teeth. Whenever the floss is soiled, breaks, or frays, you can turn it on each middle finger to get a clean section. After flossing, rinse with water and brush teeth.

Toothpastes
There are a variety of toothpastes on the market today with different characteristics to aid in your oral hygiene. Toothpaste should be used along with brushing, and most types—whether they are gels, pastes, or powders—is imperative in combating plaque. Most toothpaste contains fluoride, which strengthens tooth enamel and combats decay. The following list consists of some options that available in most toothpaste:

• Tartar Control: Calculus build-up, or tartar, can be reduced by up to 36 percent with tartar control toothpastes. These types combat tartar formation with an ingredient called pyrophosphate, but it should be noted that tartar control toothpastes are preventive tools that do not remove tartar. Professional cleaning is the only way to fully remove tartar.

• Whitening: These toothpastes contain carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide as whitening agents. While they advertise teeth lightening, whitening toothpastes are most effective in maintaining the color of teeth after professionally done bleaching procedures.

• Abrasiveness: While abrasive agents in toothpaste polish teeth and remove stains, people with sensitive teeth can opt for toothpastes with baking soda because they are less abrasive than other types.

• Sensitive Teeth: For those with teeth sensitive to heat or cold, these desensitizing toothpastes with strontium chloride or potassium nitrate can aid in tooth sensitivity. The process can take up to four to six weeks with the toothpaste before results are noticed though.

• Dentures: Specialized cleaners for dentures are available because dentures also absorb odors, unlike natural teeth, which can lead to unpleasant breath.

Eating Right
Healthy eating habits and a balanced diet plays an imperative role to our overall health. A balanced diet with lots of calcium helps to strengthen teeth. And foods with vitamin C and vitamin B12 are essential to healthy gum development. While eating right is good for the body in many ways, oral health is under a particular type of attack when eating habits are chock full of dietary items that contain a lot of refined sugars.

Bacteria in the mouth turns the residue of refined sugars into acid, which can dissolve the tooth enamel and lead to decay and cavities. Eating sugary snacks frequently can allow for heightened risk of plaque build-up and tooth decay. The best way to prevent this is to avoid keeping sugar in your mouth for extended periods of time. Sticky sweets like caramel and gummy candies are especially bad because they stick in teeth. Likewise, chewing gum or sucking on hard candies allows sugar to remain the mouth for prolonged amounts of time. If you need to snack, substitute healthier snack choices that don’t contain as much refined sugar or try to rinse your mouth out when you’re done to reduce the amount of sugar residue on your teeth.

Sugars that are consumed during meals or desserts are less harmful because saliva is constantly being produced and washing the sugars away. It is best to brush or rinse after meals, though, to keep residue from building in the mouth.

Chewing Gum
Chewing gum and risk prolonged exposure of sugar to the teeth. However, it has been found that sugar-free chewing gum can be helpful when chewed after meals or snacks because it stimulates saliva flow. This increase in saliva flow helps to wash away food debris and acids that are produced by plaque so there is no extended contact of these detriments with the teeth. While it is no replacement for actual brushing and flossing, sugar-free chewing gum is a quick way to reduce acid levels.

Sugar-free chewing gum is also recommended to patients suffering from dry mouth because of the way it can increase the flow of saliva ten times as much as normal. Along with drinking large amounts of water, this can ease some of the discomfort from dry mouth.

Bad Breath
Bad breath, also known as halitosis, is when unpleasant mouth odor is emitted from the oral cavity. This can be embarrassing to people, and can even lead to barriers in creating personal relationships if it is not addressed.

There are several conditions like kidney failure, lung and sinus infections, diabetes mellitus, and gastrointestinal disorders that have bad breath as a symptom. However, typically bad breath is due to conditions like dry mouth or poor oral hygiene. Dry mouth occurs when there is decreased saliva flow, which would otherwise naturally aid in cleaning the mouth of bacteria and food debris. This build-up can lead to bad breath as food particle are broken down by plaque in the mouth. Chewing sugarless gum or sucking on candy can increase saliva flow when combined with increased liquid intake throughout the day. Likewise, poor oral hygiene can lead to plaque and food particles getting the chance to decay in the mouth. Proper daily brushing and flossing will take care of this problem.

Smokers typically have a specific odor of halitosis, and are often susceptible to dry mouth as well. While brushing and mouthwash may mask this for a while, the only real way to eliminate odor would be to quit the habit.

Denture wearers can get bad breath if dentures are not properly cleaned with special solutions that are meant to eliminate odor. When eating, dentures tend to absorb odors as well so toothpaste alone will not fully clean them.

Toothbrushes
Brushing teeth with a toothbrush is a crucial part in good oral hygiene. Brushing breaks up plaque and food residue that can remain in the mouth and decay teeth. Most dentists today recommend a soft, rounded-end brush with nylon bristles so that gums and teeth can be cleaned at optimal levels.

To properly brush teeth, remember the following tips:

• Bristles of the brush should be angled against the gum line between the gum and teeth so that the gum is included in the cleaning process.

• Use gentle, elliptical scrubbing motions when brushing teeth and do not try to force the bristles under the gum line.

• Clean the outsides and inside surfaces of teeth equally. The inside surfaces are often overlooked and plaque builds there.

• Brushing your tongue rids the mouth of excess bacteria and helps to freshen breath.

Always make sure to change toothbrushes when the bristles begin to fray or bend. This should be one once every three to four month to ensure that your toothbrush is in working condition.

Whitening
Preventive care of teeth is the best way to avoid discoloration, but today many people have turned to teeth whitening procedures to improve the color of their teeth. While it is a popular trend, oral care professionals caution that there are potential risks to these procedures that are often over looked.

Bleaching can result in heightened tooth sensitivity or damage the roots of teeth if it is not done properly. Those who use at-home alternatives instead of seeing professionals have more chance of these risks. Though this does not happen with ever case, it is difficult for dental care providers to tell which patients might have negative side effects. If caught early, dentists can help to alleviate sensitivity problems, and catch and monitor any potential root damage.

It should also be noted that research has shown that bleaching teeth is only temporary if maintenance is not done. Dentists still stress the importance of preventive care so that continual bleaching does not need to be done.