Understanding proper care for teeth and gums is an essential part of achieving good overall health. When you are informed on proper care for teeth and gums and take good care of your oral health, you are not only rewarded with a beautiful smile. Your gums are part of your blood circulatory system. When they are neglected, decaying, and infected, it makes your entire body susceptible to illness. It is so important that studies show that people who follow proper care for teeth and gums have lower instances of cardiac disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States.
We care so much that you have good dental practices that we’ve put together a list of tips of tips for proper care for teeth and gums:
Four Tips for Gaining Good Oral Health Habits
- Learn to brush your teeth the right way.
You should be brushing your teeth at least twice a day, when you first wake up and before you go to bed at night. You know that. However, in order to get the most bang for your brushing action, you should be following proper technique when you brush your teeth:- Rinse your toothbrush with warm water before applying toothpaste and brushing your teeth. This helps soften the bristles, so they aren’t too abrasive on your gum line or tooth enamel.
- Hold your tooth brush perpendicular to your teeth (flat against the tooth), along your gum line. Brush in a circular motion, covering the surface of the teeth and gums.
- Apply a steady but gentle pressure. Even if it feels like you’re getting your mouth cleaner, you don’t want to treat your gums you’re cleaning a cast iron with a Brillo pad, as this will cause irritation and bleeding.
- After you’ve thoroughly the exterior of the teeth and gums, scrub your tongue and the roof of your mouth. The goal of brushing your teeth is to rid your mouth of the bacteria that causes tooth decay. If you wash away the bacteria on your teeth and gums but neglect to scrub the tongue, those bad boys will still have a foothold in your mouth and will rebuild their kingdom much faster.
- Give your mouth a rinse throughout the day.
If brushing is go good for your mouth, the more brushing the better, right? Actually, there is a thing as brushing too much. If you brush your teeth too often, you’ll do more harm than good by brushing away the protective enamel that keeps tartar from burrowing cavities in your teeth. Instead, rinse your mouth out with water in between meals and frequently throughout the day. This washes away the acids and bacteria that lead to dental decay, without being abrasive to the tooth enamel.
If you’re a real fan of brushing, it’s okay to brush up to three times a day. And if you eat something particularly pungent, by all means brush it away. But try not to get into the habit of brushing more than thrice. - Don’t Skip on Flossing
They say there are two kinds of people in the world: People who admit they don’t floss daily, and liars. Flossing is possibly the most helpful and under-utilized tool in your oral health tool belt. When you brush, you might rid the surface of your teeth of those cavity-causing bad guys, but your brush isn’t able to get into all those crevices between the teeth where bacteria love to fester and cause havoc. The only way to truly rid the mouth of bacteria that leads to decay is to floss between every tooth at least once per day.
If you just can’t get on board with flossing, just follow our advice: You don’t have to floss all your teeth, just the ones you want to keep. Yeah, we went there. - Get In the Habit of Visiting a Dentist
You should visit a dentist twice a year for a cleaning and checkup. We know it’s a hassle and feel unimportant if you don’t have a problem with your teeth today. But don’t skip those dental visits. When you get a dental checkup, your dentist will take x-rays and catch little problems before they turn into big, painful, and expensive problems.
Do you have any other questions or tips? Please share below!