Written By McKenzie Jones / Reviewed By Ray Spotts
Your smile is precious and can be quite costly to fix up and repair without some quality insurance that includes dental treatments. Keeping your teeth in a good level of care requires diligence and adherence to several practices.
Brush Regularly
This tip is so easy that it should go without saying yet some people think that there will be no repercussions for brushing once every three to four days. A good brushing routine is one where you brush twice a day and properly cover all surfaces of your smile. Ideally, you should brush when you first wake up and once again before you crawl into bed for the night.
Remember to Floss
No matter how fine the bristles may be on your toothbrush, your toothbrush cannot possibly cover every angle and reach every cranny. Floss is the tool you use to reach all those tiny spots between your teeth.
Ask any of the dentists in Westerville, Ohio, and they will tell you that only around 30 percent of adults floss daily with another 32 percent of adults never flossing at all. It should be noted that flossing only needs to be done once a day, ideally during your evening tooth-cleaning session.
It is also crucial to floss correctly and try to avoid cutting into the gums in your pursuit of a clean and healthy mouth.
Mouthwash
Think of mouthwash as a liquid form of flossing. While this stuff cannot scrub away all the built-up plaque and nastiness like a proper flossing routine, swishing it around in your mouth for time indicated on the bottle can do an admirable job.
Despite these benefits, it should also be said that a mouthwash-only approach is not the best of plans for keeping good dental health. The main reason why mouthwash by itself is a bad idea is due to fluoride content; most mouthwashes have 10 percent of the fluoride content of toothpaste, making them best used as support.
You should also avoid swishing mouthwash immediately after brushing because it can wash away the fluoride you just added to your teeth - wait 20 to 30 minutes before using mouthwash.
Do Not Forget the Tongue
The human tongue is a large, porous piece of tissue in your mouth and is just at risk of plaque as your teeth. A person who neglects their tongue while doing an expert job at keeping their teeth and gums clean and healthy may still suffer from bad breath or other mouth-related health problems.
A proper dental health routine includes the tongue and simply involves brushing the surface every time that you brush your teeth.
Minimize Sugars and Acids
This is more of a proactive approach but one that is no less important to bring up in discussions like this. While an aversion to acidic foods makes obvious sense since acid can eat through the layers of enamel and dentin to reach the pulp, foods that are rich in sugar are about as bad as acids.
While sugar cannot directly contribute to the dissolution of your teeth, it is an excellent food source for germs. As those germs feast on the stray sugars that can linger on your teeth, the process leads to the degradation of your teeth.
Considering how bad these two categories of foods and drinks are for the human mouth, it makes total sense that soda is a huge offender.
See Your Dentist Twice a Year
No matter how good you may be at keeping your mouth nice and clean, you are only so capable. You should have a good relationship with your dentist and visit them twice a year.
A dentist has the equipment you will not have at home and is also trained to recognize the early signs of certain problems and advise you on how to go about fixing or correcting those problems before they get out of hand.
Wrapping Things Up
Sticking to a good routine is the foundation of an oral healthcare regimen. Each day should begin and end with a brushing session that covers the teeth and tongue. Floss daily, taking care to be firm but never to the point that you harm your gums. Use mouthwash to augment your dental hygiene routine and see your dentist every six months.
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Written By:
McKenzie Jones is your typical Midwestern gal. When she is not writing or reading, she can be found training for her next half-marathon, baking something sweet, playing her guitar, or cuddled up with her golden retriever, Cooper. She loves watching football, fall weather, and long road trips.
Reviewed By:
Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.