Today we will talk about how to take care of your teeth and mouth.
Number one, go to your dentist regularly, ideally every six months. It is a case to case basis, especially for those people who have gum diseases. Your dentist might suggest that you should visit the dental clinic every three months. Like a regular medical checkup, we should also visit a dental clinic from time to time. We also need to take care of our oral health. Your dentists or dental hygienists are the only people who can remove plague, calculus or tartar in laymanโs term. They are also the only ones who can assess and give advises advises for the best treatment plan for you. Dentists can also teach you how to properly brush your teeth.
Number two, proper and effective tooth brushing is very important. You might brush your teeth every day or twice a day, but the question is, are you doing it correctly? These are the rules in tooth brushing:
1. Use a soft bristle toothbrush or an electric toothbrush and not the hard ones. Toothbrushes with hard bristles are so stiff that it can be bent or move against your tooth surfaces. On the tendency is that it may cause abrasion that will lead to sensitivity over time.
2. Use a 45 degree or Bass technique in tooth brushing. This is a combination of a circular and horizontal technique. Circular is the simplest but it is the least effective. Horizontal brushing, on the other hand, is the most common one that we do. So the proper way to brush your teeth is tilt your toothbrush to 45 degrees, back and forth with a gentle pressure. Brush all sides of your teeth, the facial, chewing surfaces. And for the inside of your teeth, brush vertically with up and down strokes.
3. Donโt forget to brush your tongue with your toothbrush or you can use a tongue scraper.This is to remove the bacteria on our tongueand to keep your breath fresh.
4. The thing we forget the most, you should brush your teeth strictly fortwo minutes, twice a day. So always remember, two minutes,twice a day. To make sure, you can use a timer. And we have different applications in our cellphone that we can download will help us to brush our teeth effectively which has a timer for two minutes. In tooth brushing, take your time. Donโt be in a rush.
5. Use a fluoride toothpaste and just put a pea size of it on the toothbrush. It is not true about the commercials where they put a lot of toothpaste on a toothbrush. Replace your toothbrush every three months or if we see that our brushes are frayed already, we can already throw it because it is not effective anymore.
6. Always remember that don’t rinse after tooth brushing. Also wait for 30 minutes before you brush after a meal.
Number three, you should also floss every day. Once a day, every evening. You can remove those food stuck in between your teeth before sleeping. You can use a regular floss, a floss pick, ergonomic floss or a water flosser. To cut the right length of floss, just pull it up to your elbow. This is approximately eighteen centimeters, enough to floss your teeth using your thumb. Flossing is important because our toothbrushes canโt reach the area or remove the debris in between our teeth.
Number four, use a fluoride mouthwash. You can use it from time to time, but always remember that don’t use it after tooth brushing. If you use a mouthwash after tooth brushing, you will just rinse or wash off the fluoride from the toothpaste that you used. Mouthwash also reduces the bacteria inside our mouth, so it is also very helpful
Number five, avoid foods high in sugar and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates feed the bacteria in our mouth so they will produce acid and it will cause cavities. Same with avoid eating sticky foods like caramels, toffee, raisins, candies and chocolates.
Number six, letโs avoid eating hard foods like pistachios, hard taco shells, pork cracklings, watermelon seeds. Those foods that are difficult to bite that may cause fracture or it may chip your tooth. When that happens, it is possible that you will feel sensitivity or worst case scenario you will be needing root canal treatment. If we donโt save the tooth, it may lead to extraction also.
Number seven, avoid eating or drinking extreme hot and cold food and beverages. Because our teeth will go through a lot of expansion and contraction. If we are always doing this, it will also cause sensitivity or even pain over time. Whenever we drink too much cold or hot, like whenever we eat ice cream or when we drink too hot coffee, it is causing small cracks to our teeth. So it is where the liquid and other fluids we intake sip through. Thatโs why it becomes sensitive or painful because fluids can already enter our teeth.
Number eight, limit your intake of colored drinks like coffee, tea or red wine. I am not telling you that you should stop drinking it because I also love tea, but Iโm saying that you should limit the times that you’re doing it or drinking it because it may stain your teeth and it would be hard for a dentist to remove it. if over time you will not avail teeth cleaning. My advice is, always drink water after drinking it and properly brush your teeth at the end of the day.
Number nine, avoid bad habits like biting your nails, biting a pen or a pencil, opening a bottle or a bag of chips using your teeth. It may damage your tooth and it can also break it if we will always do these habits. And sometimes it will cause cracks or fracture because of the pressure that we’re using. Once our tooth chips off or got broken, the inside part of our teeth can be exposed. It will be sensitive, or worst case scenario, it will be so painful.
Number 10, this is the one thing that you should really stop doing. Maybe a lot of people will get angry but you should stop smoking. Not only it will affect our teeth but also our lungs. If you will notice on smokers, cigarette also stains or the nicotine stains our teeth and gums. Usually smokers don’t experience bleeding of their gums. What we usually see on them is that they have deep pockets. This is a sign that they have periodontitis because eventually if you are a smoker especially if you are a heavy smoker, it will lead to a gum disease called periodontitis. Maybe you heard about gingivitis, but it is just inflammation of the gums. And to avoid having periodontitis or even gingivitis, this kind of gum diseases, we need to take care of our teeth. There is a huge effect on us if we are smoking. Not only it affects our teeth, but we can also have oral diseases. Like on our palate, we can have nicotinic stomatitis. We can have mouth cancer. There is a lot of possible outcome. And if from the start, we are able to take care of our teeth and our oral health, it will benefit our body and our overall health.
So again, to have a better oral health you should first visit your dentist regularly, brush your teeth properly and effectively, floss once a day, use a mouthwash from time to time, avoid foods high in sugar and carbohydrates, avoid eating hard foods, avoid eating or drinking extreme hot and cold food and beverages, limit your intake of collard drinks, avoid your bad habits and avoid smoking. Aside from all of these, you should eat nutritious food and have a well-balanced diet and exercise.
Hope you apply and start practicing this dental tips and start taking care of your teeth and oral health. Remember to always be happy, don’t forget to smile, life is short to be sad.
