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Looking after your teeth is vital for a healthy smile that you can be proud of, as well that healthy teeth that will last a lifetime. The best way to remember to look after your teeth on a daily basis is by establishing an oral care routine at the beginning and end of your day. This can be before you go to work, when you shower or just before you go to bed.
By establishing an oral care hygiene to suit your lifestyle and that fits around your other commitments, you will be able to give your teeth the appropriate life-long care that they need.
- Brushing Your Teeth
Brushing your teeth is the most well-recognised, and most important, element of your oral care and should dominate any dental care routines that you choose to perform. However, 3 in 10 people in the UK only brush their teeth once a day. You should brush your teeth twice a day in both the morning and the evening for at least two minutes, making sure that you cover every surface of your teeth. The best way to ensure that you brush your teeth regularly is by brushing them just before you go to bed and as part of your early morning routine.
It is better to brush your teeth over half an hour after you have eaten food, as this has a number of dental benefits. These include ensuring that any acidity from your food does not wear away the enamel of your teeth whilst you are brushing.
If you have a manual toothbrush, you should aim it at a 45 degree angle to your gums and move it gently over your teeth in backwards and forwards movements.
You should ensure that you brush your outer surfaces, inner surfaces and the tops of your teeth. These can often be forgotten, which leaves harmful bacteria on your teeth’s surfaces.
The best way to clean the inside surface of your front teeth is to point your toothbrush vertically and brush with up-down movements. However, whilst doing this, you must ensure that you do not break through the gums as this can be damaging to them.
If you have a good electric toothbrush, you should move your toothbrush gently to each tooth in turn. Although the toothbrush will do all the work for you, you should place the toothbrush on each tooth for a matter of seconds before moving on.
When brushing your teeth, you should also ensure that you do not brush too hard or for too long as this can lead the increased teeth sensitivity where the enamel on your teeth has worn away. It can also lead to gum erosion, allowing harmful bacteria to make its way into your gum, increasing your chance of developing gum infections and gum disease.
Gum disease is prevalent in up to 90% of the population.
- Brushing Your Tongue
Incorporating brushing your tongue into your oral care routine is important for a number of reasons. These include reducing the amount of harmful bacteria and plaque in your mouth, as the tongue is a breeding ground for bacteria that can potentially cause gum diseases and infections. The harmful bacteria that you come into contact with in everyday life may also spread throughout your body and cause other illnesses.
Another important reason to brush your tongue, for both your health and your self-esteem, is that brushing your tongue can reduce the odorous bacteria that cause halitosis, or bad breath. Additionally, for food lovers, brushing your tongue can help to intensify your taste buds and help you to enjoy your favourite meals to their full potential.
To clean your tongue effectively, you should put a small amount of toothpaste onto a soft bristled brush and brush gently from the back of your tongue to its tip.
An even better way of cleaning your tongue is by investing in a specialised tongue scraper, which is made out of a soft material. It removes harmful bacteria from your tongue by scraping a layer of plaque and bacteria away from the surface of your tongue.
- The Right Toothpaste
You should get into the habit of using a good toothbrush that meets your individual oral care needs.
Firstly, you should make sure that the toothpaste you are using contains enough fluoride to protect and strengthen your teeth.
Secondly, you may want to find a toothpaste that suits your individual dental health goals and needs.
For instance, many companies produce a number of different toothpastes such as specialised tooth-whitening toothpastes and toothpastes for those with sensitive teeth. Many sensitive teeth toothpastes contain potassium nitrate, which blocks pain signals to the brain, or Strontium Chloride, which block the dentin tubules that cause sensitivity in place of enamel.
- Flossing
Flossing is as important as brushing for your daily oral care routine, and you should floss your teeth once a day. Even though you may believe that simply brushing your teeth is enough to prevent tooth decay, this is not the case.
Brushing your teeth only covers around 60% of your teeth’s surfaces, meaning that 40% of your mouth is not getting the care it needs. This can lead to an excess of bacteria in these exposed places.
Flossing helps you to care for all areas of your mouth by allowing you to remove plaque and bacteria from the narrow spaces in between your teeth and down to your gumline. This reduces your risk of tooth decay and other oral health problems.
To floss properly, you should use around 45 mm of floss. You should then wind the floss around both your thumb and forefinger, with about an inch of space in between, with which you will use to floss your teeth. You should move gently backward and forwards slightly to reach your gumline, being careful to avoid breaking your gums. You should then scrape both sides of each tooth, angling your floss into the tooth.
However, floss can be harmful to your gums if you do not floss correctly. You should always floss gently enough that you do not make your gums bleed and scrape away some of the gum’s surface. This can aid gum erosion.
If you do have problems with the strength with which to floss, using interdental brushes are softer and kinder to your mouth, and some studies show that it is actually a better way of cleaning between your teeth. Interdental brushes move into different shapes according to the space that you are cleaning, which allows them to cover more surface area than flossing. There are also size options available to ensure that you get the right match for your teeth, and they are often easier to manoeuvre than normal floss.
- Mouthwash
Although mouthwash is not an integral part of your dental health routine, you should consider adding a dentist-approved mouthwash to your oral care routine for a number of reasons.
Many mouthwashes contain anti-bacterial ingredients that help to stop a build-up of plaque and bacteria in your mouth. For instance, mouthwash that contains fluoride can help to strengthen your teeth and enamel and protect it from harmful bacteria. Mouthwash is also good for those that suffer from halitosis as it often has lasting properties to allow you to have fresher breath for longer.
Some mouthwashes also contain preservatives to prevent the growth of bacteria, detergent to remove food debris from your teeth and alcohol to kill any bacteria that is already inside your mouth.
There are many factors you should consider when picking a mouthwash. Mouthwashes that contain alcohol are more likely to give you a dry mouth, and you should avoid swallowing mouthwashes that contain fluoride, as fluoride can be harmful in large amounts.
If you do not want to invest in a mouthwash, then washing your mouth out with salt water could be a quick and easy way to achieve the effects of mouthwash.
Salt is a natural disinfectant and helps to reduce swelling in your gums. However, you should not use this regularly as it can lead to tooth erosion.
- Regular Check-Ups
Regular check-ups are important to book in advance, and you should ensure that your dental check-ups are always embedded in your annual calendar. You should have at least one check-up a year, and sometimes once every six months, depending on how prone your teeth are to disease, and your age.
Having dental check-ups is vital to catch any problems with your teeth early so that you can get the best treatment possible before they worsen. If you avoid going to the dentist, you may find that you will have to face larger procedures to maintain the health of your teeth.
With more than a third of the UK scared of the dentist, it is not unusual to avoid visiting the dentist out of fear.
If you are scared of the dentist, it might help to bring someone you trust to your appointment, explain your fear to your dentist before you visit and ask questions about the process as it is happening. The dentist will then be able to calm your fears by telling you what to expect, as well as demystifying procedures you may be scared of. If you are scared of procedures, then you should ask if you can have local anaesthetic on your teeth, which normally comes in gel form and makes every procedure completely pain-free.
Your dentist will check the health of your gums, looking for gum erosion and disease, and will check that there is no tooth decay or cavities in your mouth. This is a great opportunity to discuss any pain or discomfort you may be feeling, or ask any burning questions about your oral care routine. Your dentist will also normally give you advice on how to improve your dental hygiene routine and check that you are committed to daily, effective oral hygiene.
If you are a dentist looking for the best equipment to help your patients, Kent Express can provide the most up-to-date equipment for your practice, from whitening treatments to small apparatus such as ultrasonic baths. Their friendly and informative service will help you provide the best care for your patients using high-quality equipment that suits your needs. What’s more, Kent Express’s account management team are incredibly knowledgeable, and so can offer the best advice on products and current deals.
- Whitening
Whitening may not be on the top of everybody’s dental routines, but if you are looking for the perfect smile, there are many ways to get the pearly whites of your dreams.
You can get whitening treatments through your local dentist. This is a process called professional bleaching. Your dentist will apply a sheet of hydrogen peroxide to your teeth, using mouthguard-like rubber shields on your teeth to protect them from the strong effects of the bleach. Hydrogen Peroxide, when broken down, allows oxygen to mix with the enamel on your teeth to lighten its colour.
The procedure will take around 3-4 weeks to complete, and you will need to complete the treatment at home for 30 minutes to an hour over two to four weeks.
This means that it is important to incorporate your whitening treatment into your everyday patterns as this will ensure that your teeth stay on schedule to becoming your dream colour.
The most important whitening treatment for your daily routine, however, are teeth whitening kits. These can come in the form of home whitening strips or paint-on whitening agents, and their effectiveness depends on the amount of bleach in each kit. However, you should discuss this with your dentist before you start using whitening treatments, but, if you do decide this is the right option for you, teeth whitening will need to factor into your routine, whether this is whitening toothpaste or whitening strips, for the treatment to work.
Establishing a dental health routine at home is vital to a lifetime of correct dental care. Not only will this mean quicker and easier trips to the dentist, but looking after your teeth at home can reduce the amount of bacteria that can make your whole body ill, reduce your chances of contracting gum-related infections and diseases, and prevent dental procedures such as the need for fillings if cavities are found in your teeth.