Your Go-To Tips for Good Dental Care
Dental health has been receiving growing attention as people realise it’s not just limited to the mouth. Irresponsibility in the area can lead to respiratory and heart diseases that no one wishes for. It’s therefore incredibly important to pay proper attention to your oral health.
It is popularly misunderstood, simply having white teeth does not indicate good dental health. Achieving and maintaining good dental health is a lifetime of work. It’s composed of multiple habits that you practice every day, that account for your perfect smile.
While you can find most of those through a quick search, such as brushing twice a day and using a mouthwash, here are some go-to tips that will help you take your dental care up a notch.
Don’t forget to Clean your Tongue
Most of us make sure to target every area of our teeth while brushing, but more often than not we leave the tongue untouched. Our tongue can be home to a ton of bacteria and plaque, that if left uncleaned can cause mouth odour and lead to other health problems.
Cleaning your tongue doesn't take a lot of time either. All you need to do is scrap your tongue with the back of your toothbrush or get yourself a tongue scraper if your toothbrush doesn't have one.
You can only expect an all-around cleanup when you clean your tongue, so don’t ignore it.
Use fluoride toothpaste
The market is filled with tons of toothpastes- flavourful, sensitive, whitening and refreshing; and each one of us has a preference of our own.
No matter what kind of toothpaste you like, be sure to check if it contains fluoride. Fluoride is a natural compound that protects the teeth against tooth decay. It also strengthens exposed roots and is suitable for both children and adults.
Since fluoride is recognised as good for health, most public water systems in the US add fluoride to their water sources.
Choose the right toothbrush
Do you brush twice a day and still don’t see the expected results? Guess what, it could be your toothbrush that’s the problem.
Not many people pay attention when buying a toothbrush, most of us pick the one that looks good in the supermarket and add it to our cart. That’s where we go wrong. There are a couple of things you should take care of when purchasing a toothbrush.
Choose a toothbrush that has a small head, it will reach corners of your mouth that a normal toothbrush won’t. Along with that, get a toothbrush that has soft bristles, as hard bristles can be tough on the gums and potentially damaging. And if you’re really serious about your dental health, it’s best if you can get an electric toothbrush as they are comparatively much more effective.
Don’t give up on Flossing
Yes, I’ll say it, Flossing is hard. Especially for kids and elder people. Worse for people who’ve never tried it. We can come up with a hundred reasons why we don’t wanna floss, and it’s understandable.
But ignoring flossing is no solution. Go beyond regular flossing, get a water flosser. Compared to regular floss they are very gentle and less abrasive. It's a great option for people with braces too, as the jet stream gently cleans any particles behind the wires without hurting the teeth. And most importantly they offer proper deep cleaning, equally as good as the traditional floss.
Eat Crunchy foods
We’re all a fan of ready-to-eat and processed food, mainly because it’s convenient. You don’t need to put in work to chew them like you would a raw fruit.
Though it’s part of our lifestyle, it isn’t exactly optimal. When you introduce hard-to-eat or crunchy fruits and vegetables to your diet, your teeth have to work out and consequently, they become stronger. Along with that be sure to eat foods as a whole whenever possible, you don’t need your jaws to become lazy when chewing food that’s cut into small pieces.
Stop Smoking
Not just dental health, constantly smoking severely affects your overall health too.
If you smoke regularly, you might have noticed your teeth turning yellow. Smoking is responsible for the decolourization of the teeth, and not just that it also leads to bad odour. And to make it even worse, it’s been observed that smokers have weak teeth and infected gums. So if dental health is your priority, you got to keep yourself away from those cigarettes.
Keep a tab on the sugar
As kids, our parents constantly told us to not eat a lot of candies, while then we hated that it was for our own good.
Sugar and teeth don’t have a happy relationship. For starters, you are very likely to get cavities if you consume sugar-infused products regularly. Cold beverages, soda and other snacks that we binge on quite often are the primary sources of concentrated sugar in our diet. If you wish to be cavity-free, it’s best to minimize, possibly eliminate the consumption of sugar-packed foods.
Protect your toothbrush
You’ve got yourself the right toothbrush after some research, but are you protecting it?
In most bathroom settings, the toothbrush is constantly exposed to bacteria from the environment. Be it contamination from contact with toothbrushes of other family members or transfer of germs from the toilet seat after a flush. The risk is always present.
It is wise to get yourself a toothbrush protector. The BrushGuard toothbrush protector is a prime example. It protects your toothbrush from foreign bacteria by offering a compact housing, and it’s made from durable material that’s meant to last for years. Additionally, they carry bright and colourful characters that your children are bound to fall in love with. And you can take them along when you travel, what more could one ask for!
Follow these go-to tips and take your dental care to the next level.