Top 10 Tips to Improve your Dental Health
1. Visit your Dentist
Have your teeth cleaned by your dentist or hygienist on a regular basis. No matter how well you believe you are cleaning your teeth, a professional scaling will always reach areas you can't. Don't be offended when problems with cleaning, diet or habits are pointed out; it's their job and we can all improve!
2. Give up Smoking
Smoking eventually kills approximately 50% of people who smoke. By not smoking you improve your general health and cleanliness of your mouth. The tar in tobacco adheres to the surface of your teeth and can be very unsightly. Smoking also causes changed to the blood vessels in your gums. This can mask the signs of gum disease so that you can even have advanced gum disease and not know it. Smoking can also lead to other tissue changes in the mouth which can be more sinister and must be monitored by regular checkups.
3. Use a Fluoride Tooth Paste Twice Daily
Most tooth pastes (including desensitising pastes) contain fluoride which helps strengthen tooth enamel and so helps prevent tooth decay. Lidl's supermarkets now sell a fluoride table salt which will act as an adjunct to the fluoride in tooth pastes. Remember: Spit don't rinse, as this helps retain more fluoride after brushing. Tooth paste and salt should both be used sparingly.
4. Invest in an Electric Tooth Brush
The Sonicare or Braun Oral B have small heads which are really good at getting to those hard to reach places such as the inside of your lower molar teeth. Less abrasion and wear damage is done than by manual brushing as less pressure needs to be applied.
5. Use Dental Floss / Inter-Dental Brushes Every Day
Flossing cleans effectively between your teeth where a brush cannot reach. By flossing you improve your gum health and reduce your likelihood of tooth decay. It is vital that you use the correct technique as if you don't, you may damage your gums. Your dentist or hygienist can demonstrate the best flossing technique. Alternatively, miniature bottle brushes, such as TePe Interdental Brushes, which are colour coded for size, are a fantastic way to clean between your teeth. They are an alternative for people who continue to find flossing difficult.
6. Use Plaque Disclosing Tablets once per week
These tablets are dissolved in the mouth and then rinsed away. The teeth where the plaque remains will be deeply stained and so you can visualise where you need to concentrate your cleaning efforts. It is a good idea to use them after cleaning your teeth and this can identify where you have missed with your brushing.
7. Use an Alcohol Free Mouthwash daily
When you are already brushing and flossing effectively a mouthwash can enhance your oral hygiene but it is never a substitute!
8. Use a Tongue Cleaner daily
Your tongue can harbour bacteria in its rough surface. A tongue cleaner can effectively reduce the levels of bacteria and will improve your oral freshness.
9. An Apple a day...
Crunchy food, like apples, help clean the teeth. Try to eat a low sugar healthy diet between meals, such as nuts and seeds. Tooth decay needs sugar, plaque and time to happen. By reducing sugar you reduce your likelihood of developing cavities. Finish a meal with cheese as it helps raise the pH and fights the acid environment produced by plaque bacteria.
10. Chew Sugar-free Gum between meals
This has been shown to increase your saliva flow rate which cleanses your mouth. If the gum has Xylitol in it, even better, as this has an anti-plaque action.
Most of the above products mentioned can be purchased at discounted rates at reception.