To keep your mouth healthy and your smile beautiful, Indian Dental Association gives these four steps with which you will be on your way to a life of good oral hygiene….
When you brush your teeth, you remove the bacteria that promote tooth decay and the plaque that can cause gum disease. Regular and thorough brushing helps in preventing tooth decay and gum disease.
How to brush your teeth
- A thorough cleaning should take at least two minutes, don’t rush the process of brushing your teeth. You can also time yourself occasionally to make sure you are meeting the mark.
- Don’t scrub your teeth as gums may recede in years of brushing too hard.
- Brush with a gentle and circular massaging motion, up and down. Angle your brush at 45 degrees relative to where your gums and teeth meet.
- Make sure you clean the chewing surface, the cheek side, and the tongue side. Also the entire surface of every tooth.
- There are many different types of brushes, so ask your dentist to suggest the best one for you.
- Replace your toothbrush every three months.
Interdental cleaning
Interdental cleaning removes plaque and bacteria that cannot be reached with tooth brushing alone. If you don’t regularly clean between your teeth you are missing more than one-third of your tooth surfaces, this allows plaque to build up.
Either with dental floss or tape, interdental brushes or an electric water flosser clean between your teeth at least once a day, to ensure that plaque never gets the chance to harden into tartar.
- Hold the interdental brush between your thumb and forefinger. Gently place the brush through the gap between your teeth.
- Do not force the brush head through the gap.
- Interdental brushes come in various sizes.
- It may be helpful to ask your dentist or hygienist to show you the correct sizes for your mouth.
Avoid certain substances
- Reduce sugar intake, harmful oral bacteria feeds on sugar. If you insist on eating sugary foods, try to keep it to mealtimes.
- Acidic foods and drinks strip tooth enamel of its minerals. Over time, enamel damage leaves the sensitive interior structure of teeth unprotected against cavity-causing bacteria.
- Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to irritations of the tissues inside the mouth, including the tongue and slower healing and poor healing after dental or oral surgery.
- Smoking also has harmful effects on your teeth. When you smoke, you interfere with the normal function of gum tissue cells and affect the attachment of bone and soft tissue to your teeth. This leaves you more susceptible to infections and impairs blood flow to the gums.
Visit your dentist regularly
- Plaque and calculus embed underneath the gum tissues and quietly causes periodontal disease. It doesn’t hurt but it silently produces enzymes that dissolve away the bones.
- The small cavity can be managed with a simple filling but a cavity in its biggest stage, it can not only cause pain and swelling but also the loss of a tooth. Regular checkups with your dentist allow you to catch cavities before they turn into big problems.
- Sugar and starch on the teeth produce billions of bacteria that end up in the blood stream. There is a strong correlation between gum disease and heart disease. While bacteria normally exists in the mouth, gum disease increases the level of bacteria dramatically and it gets carried through the blood and can end up lodged in the heart and clog blood vessels.
Source : Indiandentalassociation
