Caring for your mouth and teeth throughout your life can help prevent oral problems. This will also allow you to save money by avoiding very expensive oral procedures. Especially since in Quebec, this care is not covered by universal health care coverage, although the debate was revived during the last federal election campaign.
A healthy mouth is more important than you might think. Consider everything you expect from your mouth on a daily basis. You use your mouth to eat, to smile, to talk, and more. Poor oral health can affect some or all of these actions. On the other hand, having good oral health is not a difficult goal to achieve, but it requires discipline.
Even those who have inherited bad teeth can do a lot today to prevent tooth decay and the like. Today we explain you how to keep your teeth healthy and beautiful.
What are the consequences of not keeping teeth healthy?
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Some consequences of not having a good mouth are visible to the naked eye, others can be silent until the pain arrives and you notice that something is wrong with your teeth.
Here we list some of the most common symptoms and diseases that you can suffer from not maintaining your dental health in an optimal state:
That if you are a smoker it is very likely that you have the disease but that your gums do not bleed, thanks to the vasoconstrictive effect that tobacco has.
This process is called demineralization (usually its symptom is a white stain on the teeth). If there are many cycles of demineralization, the end result will be a cavity, a hole in the tooth and if this process is not stopped in time, it gradually destroys deeper layers of our tooth, advancing until it reaches the nerve and produces pain.
7 Tips for Keeping Your Teeth Healthy
The dentist explained to me that the enamel, or the protective layer, was wearing away, exposing the lower dentin, leading to tooth sensitivity. Among other things, she suggested that I brush gently up and down, rather than aggressively, and spend two minutes brushing. “It’s a typical case,” says Dr. Euan Swan, director of dental programs for the Canadian Dental Association.
The patient is proud to brush his teeth hard, but he is damaging them. ” When we develop habits to improve our well-being, we are not always aware of the problems that we can cause our teeth. “In terms of health, teeth are often the last priority. So many things tend to be overlooked, ”says Dr. Mark Parhar, an endodontist from British Columbia, Canada, who specializes in the internal soft tissue of teeth.
Here are some dental hygiene tips to ensure you always keep good, healthy, white teeth.
1. Brush your teeth!
It is really the most listened to advice, you have to brush your teeth every day, we all know it, but at the same time we do not know how to do it, follow these guidelines and you will be a master at brushing them:
- Choose a soft bristle brush with a small head so that you can reach your farthest teeth and hard-to-reach areas. Change your brush every 3 months or sooner if you see that the bristles of your brush are deformed. Manual brush or an electric brush, the important thing is that you pay attention to go through each tooth of your mouth.
- Before you start, brush your teeth and rinse your mouth vigorously with water to remove all possible food debris.
- Divide and you will win! Imagine your mouth in 4 parts and start in order from back to front in each quadrant of your mouth, so you make sure you have passed through each area. Spend 30 seconds on each area.
- Brush repetitively and with little force, approximately 20 times each tooth in front and behind (and in the case of the teeth on their flat part) with circular movements on each part of the tooth. Focus your efforts especially on the area where the tooth is joined and the gum to remove all dental plaque. And remember that brushing harder does not mean brushing better. It is the number of times you pass over the surface of the tooth and the way it is done that will ensure you remove as much dirt from your teeth.
- Brushing should last 2 to 3 minutes and should be done at least twice a day (morning and night) and ideally after each meal.
Don’t rinse your toothpaste with water! Spit out the leftover paste, but don’t end your brushing by rinsing with water, if you do, you’re taking all the power out of the fluorine to re-mineralize your enamel. Which brings us to our next point.
2. Use fluoride toothpaste to remineralize your enamel.
The enamel on your teeth is made up of minerals, such as calcium and phosphate. Fluorine is one more mineral, which helps to strengthen and remineralize the dental escalate, forming new crystals and making it resistant to acid attacks by bacteria.
Fluorine is our great ally to strengthen our teeth against the attack of acids caused by bacteria always present in our mouth. We have to understand fluorine as a topical medicine (as a cream medicine that you apply to the skin), that is why you MUST NOT RINSE your teeth with water after brushing them , since you take away all its repairing power on your teeth.
How much fluoride should toothpaste have? For any age, that is, from the first tooth we recommend that the toothpaste have a minimum fluorine concentration of 1000 ppm (parts per million). The amount of fluoride can be found in the list of ingredients of your toothpaste.
3. Use dental floss to clean between teeth.
If you don’t floss, you stop cleaning 35% of your teeth. Little can be added to this phrase, but statistics tell us that only 10% of the population uses it. The space between your teeth is one of the areas most likely to accumulate dental plaque, and consequently, suffer from cavities and other types of diseases mentioned above.
Keeping this area clean is not so difficult, in addition to the dental floss of a lifetime, currently there are flossers on the market that simplify and facilitate the action of passing the floss between the teeth, we recommend them!
How to floss: The dental floss should be inserted between two teeth easily or with a little pressure but without doing damage (be careful with your gums!). You must drag up and down rubbing the floss against the tooth to remove the plaque that remains attached to your teeth. You should do this at least once a day along with your teeth brushing routine.
Interdental brushes or dental irrigator are other options you can use to remove food debris that remains between your teeth, ask your trusted dentist what is best for you.
4. Clean your tongue.
The tongue occupies approximately half of the entire surface of the oral mucosa and various functions are gathered in it, such as speech, swallowing and chewing, sucking, and the sense of taste.
Before brushing your teeth, drag the tongue scraper from the furthest area of the tongue to the front area of the mouth, rinse the scraper and repeat as many times as necessary until your tongue has a pink hue. Rinse your mouth with plenty of water and proceed to brush your teeth as we have explained before.
We recommend incorporating the cleaning of your tongue once a day into your nighttime routine, because at night, by not secreting so much saliva, bacteria accumulate even more, in this way you will be sure to wake up with a fresh breath.
5. Don't use your teeth as a tool.
The teeth, being covered with enamel (one of the hardest substances in our body), are highly resistant and at the same time fragile, like porcelain. When we bite they resist a lot of pressure, which often leads us to think that we can use them as tools to open things, cut, stretch or hold things.
Despite this strength, teeth cannot regenerate like many other parts of our body, so when they fracture or wear out, they must be “repaired” by a dentist. You will avoid unnecessary wear, trauma and break away from these bad habits:
6. Maintain a healthy diet.
It is important to go beyond brushing your teeth and taking care of the way we eat, correct choices regarding food and drink.
Avoid sugar both in quantity and in frequency, it has been shown that when sugar is reduced, and other sources of simple carbohydrates that ferment easily, the risk of cavities is reduced. In addition, most foods high in sugars do not provide any type of nutrient to your body.
And it’s not just the amount of sugar you eat, but the frequency and texture of the food that increases your risk of developing tooth decay. Therefore we recommend that you avoid sticky or slowly dissolving foods.
These are some of the names that have the most common added sugars: sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup, maltose, fructose, sucrose, glucose, dextrose (in general what ends in “-ose” indicates a sugar ), concentrated fruit juice, honey, any syrup or syrup, invert sugar, molasses, etc.
Between meals limit eating and drinking (other than water). If you need to eat between meals, choose nutritious foods such as sugar-free dairy products, nuts, fresh fruits, and vegetables. This is not only a tip to maintain the health of your teeth, but it is also a good nutritional habit for your whole body.
Avoid drinking carbonated drinks or acidic juices frequently. (orange, lemon or grapefruit). These types of drinks decalcify the enamel of your teeth and cause premature wear.
Others like coffee, tea, or wine can stain them. Using straws to drink these liquids could be good advice. The tooth is a porous surface that can be colored by certain foods (cherries, beets …), giving it an unattractive appearance. If you do consume them, be sure to brush your teeth after taking them.
Tobacco causes loss of mucous membrane permeability, that is, it reduces the oxygenation of all tissue, causing premature aging and deteriorating the health of the tissues surrounding the tooth. Reduce the number of cigarettes or better yet, completely quit tobacco, all your health and especially that of your mouth, will appreciate it.
Increase intake of protein, calcium, fluoride, and vitamins A, C, D, and K. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables, such as a healthy apple, facilitates self-hygiene of the mouth and gums, killing bacteria indirectly. Dairy products, green leafy vegetables, bluefish, and nuts cannot be missing from your diet to preserve strong and healthy teeth.
The green tea, in addition to helping you maintain an esbelta- figure involved in the health of your mouth thanks to its antioxidant properties, take it after eating and put aside sweets, causing decay.
7. Professional dental hygiene once a year.
Finally, our star recommendation, professional dental hygiene once a year. With it you make sure that a dental health professional will check the state of your teeth, will give you advice to improve your habits if you need it and will remove the dirt that your toothbrush can no longer remove, such as tartar and stains on your teeth .
Dental hygiene lasts from 45 min to 1 hour, according to the needs of each person, in it a dental hygienist follows the following steps:
- 1- Exploration of your mouth determining the amount of accumulated dirt, if you have done hygiene in the same place before, the hygienist can make a comparison and see if your maintenance has improved for a year or if on the contrary, you should adjust certain routines.
- 2- Questions and advice about your lifestyle, food, and oral hygiene. In this space, you can solve any doubts you have and learn first-hand about the latest news to take better care of your teeth.
- 3- Eliminate the accumulated tartar tooth by tooth, with an ultrasound machine or cavitron, which by means of its ultrasonic pulsations detaches the tartar from the dental enamel. With this device, it is possible to eliminate even the tartar that is hidden under your gums.
- 4- Hygiene of the interproximal space, that is, the space between tooth and tooth with a special tape that polishes your teeth without hurting them.
- 5- Stain removal with Airflow or bicarbonate gun, the final touch to show off rejuvenated and shiny teeth.
- 6- General polishing, finally the hygienist brushes your teeth with a special polishing brush and granulated paste to finish removing all traces of stains on your teeth.
In our view, professional dental hygiene is the best way to keep your teeth healthy throughout your life, and we also consider it the best way to save. Because if you had an indication of any disease, the hygienist can detect and intervene early and thus solve it easily. In other words, it is not the same, a cavity in its first stage to a cavity that has destroyed the nerve of a tooth.
Conclusion
Remember that maintaining a routine of good care of the mouth and teeth helps you prevent the appearance of cavities (stings), tooth loss, gum pain, or other problems in the future, as well as maintaining a pleasant breath and a nice smile.
And if you have a problem with your teeth or are concerned about something related to your mouth, visit your dentist as soon as possible to avoid complications.
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