Healthy Teeth Practices

Teeth play an important role in our lives. They help us chew and digest our food, talk and speak clearly, and also give our face its shape. Additionally, good teeth give us a brighter smile thus boosting our confidence and influencing our social lives, careers, and relationships. It truly transforms our visual appearance and the positivity of our mind-set. Apart from this, keeping your teeth and mouth healthy have many health benefits too. It helps you ward off many issues like heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and other illnesses.

Additionally, research shows that the length of our life is strongly linked to the number of teeth we have. It is found that people who have all their teeth above the age of 74 live longer than the ones who lost five teeth by the age of 65. Thus taking care of teeth is necessary to increase your life expectancy.

Maintaining healthy teeth will also promote the quality of your life and reduce health problems. Hence, take a look at some best practices to keep your teeth healthy.

1. Brush Your Teeth Regularly

Brushing your teeth daily is the most important thing to keep your teeth clean and healthy. But it will only work effectively if done with a proper technique. The right way of brushing teeth is to brush them gently at a 45-degree angle and not for more than four minutes or you can damage your enamel. Don’t forget to clean your tongue as well because filth can accumulate between your tastebuds and can harm your teeth too.

Brushing twice a day is equally important. Saliva is an essential component to flush out harmful pathogens in your mouth. But when you are asleep, your mouth doesn’t produce much saliva thus the bacteria colonies expand in those hours. That is why brushing your teeth in the morning is compulsory to clean out those bacteria. While germs also accumulate in your mouth throughout the day, you should not avoid brushing your teeth at night. But just remember to avoid brushing within half an hour of your dinner because food releases acids that make your teeth’ enamel vulnerable and brushing right after eating may erode the enamel.

2. Make use of fluoride toothpaste while brushing

When you buy toothpaste, you may consider elements like whitening power and flavors, but there are more important things to look for. Regardless of which version you buy make sure that the toothpaste contains fluoride in it.

Fluoride is an element that comes from fluorine. According to many dental experts, fluoride can help prevent cavities. It works by fighting germs responsible for tooth decay and provides a protective barrier for your teeth. A lack of fluoride has led to tooth decay in many people even after taking proper care of their teeth. So, start using toothpaste and mouthwash that have fluoride in it.

Even many communities have added fluoride to their water supply in the United States. This practice is recommended by several organizations including the World Health Organisation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and ADA.

If you want to confirm whether the water in your area contains fluoride or not, contact your local government.

3. Floss once a day

Flossing is as important as brushing, it helps to remove plaque and bacteria from between the teeth, especially where the toothbrush cannot reach. It also prevents bad breath by removing the food and debris trapped in your teeth.

But remember, while flossing doesn’t push the floss up and down between the teeth as this will not remove the plaque efficiently and may cause pain. You should rather push the floss gently all the way down to the gum line before hugging the side of the teeth.

Though there is not much evidence to prove that flossing is beneficial, the ADA and CDC recommend it.

4. Consider mouthwash

Many people skip mouthwash because they usually don’t know how it works. But the use of mouthwash is necessary for good oral health. It helps in three ways:

• Mouthwashes help to reduce the amount of acid in the mouth
• They clean the areas where a brush can’t reach and around the gums
• They remineralize teeth
• Mouthwashes containing chlorhexidine (an antibacterial ingredient) are helpful in controlling plaque and gingivitis.

Mouthwashes are useful tools to help bring things into balance, especially for children and older people who can’t brush and floss properly. Though they cannot be a substitute for brushing and flossing but will be complementary to these practices.

If you have sensitive teeth, certain brands are best for you. You can take the help of your dentist to recommend specific mouthwash.

5. Limit starches, sugary, and acidic foods

Eating sugary food can lead to cavities because sugar converts into acid in the mouth that can erode the enamel of your teeth. The main culprits include candy and desserts but there are also several processed foods that contain added sugar.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends people limit their sugar intake below 10 percent. Moreover, if you lower it to 5 percent, the risk of cavities and other dental problems will be highly reduced.

Additionally, acidic foods like tea, coffee, and some acidic fruits also wear down your tooth enamel. Experts also state that starchy foods like bread, chips, and pasta linger in the mouth and break down into simple sugars that produce acid, ultimately leading to cavities.

You should also limit your intake of foods like milky chocolates, fast foods, cookies, bread, and breakfast cereals.

6. Visit your dentist periodically

People always visit a dentist only if they suffer from a toothache. While experts always recommend making an appointment with a dentist at least twice a year. Seeing a dentist every six months helps prevent cavities. However, adults who practice good dental hygiene tend to visit the dentist less frequently. Your daily practices are definitely crucial to overall dental health but visiting a dentist regularly is a must. A dentist not only removes plaque, hardened tartar, and cavities from your teeth but also checks visual signs of gum disease, mouth cancer, and oral health issues.

Though half-yearly check-ups are recommended still there is a need to confirm the ideal frequency of dental check-ups. However, people can usually discuss how often they need a check-up with their dentist. While the answer may vary per person depending on the person’s dental health, age, and overall health.

7. Don’t smoke

When you smoke your teeth are generally exposed to both tobacco and nicotine. As a result, giving you bad breath, stained, and yellow teeth. Moreover, smoking affects the body’s immune system, making the healing of tissues, including those in the mouth difficult for the body. It puts you at risk of gum disease and also contributes to oral cancer.

The flow of saliva is also affected by the chemicals in tobacco products making it easier for oral bacteria to stick to teeth. While losing teeth is the most adverse health effect caused by smoking. It is also found that smokers develop more tartar on the teeth as compared to non-smokers. This can lead to a gum disease also known as periodontal disease that attacks the roots, eventually causing the teeth to fall out.

You can reduce the risks caused by smoking by brushing your teeth twice daily, floss once each day, and visit the dentist regularly. But healthcare digital marketing services will always advise you to quit smoking or at least cut-down, if possible.

8. Eat crunchy fruits and vegetables

Ready foods are of course convenient but when it comes to teeth they won’t be helpful. Whenever you eat foods like fruits such as apples, pears, beets, and veggies like broccoli that you need to chew a lot, triggers a surge in saliva production. And as already discussed above saliva is great for your teeth as it inhibits the growth of bacteria. These foods also contain healthy fibre and hence is the best choice for your teeth.

Professionals always advise eating hard to chew food at a younger age and avoid overly mushy processed stuff.

9. Stay hydrated

When it comes to your overall health or dental health, water is the best beverage. You should drink water after every meal as a thumb rule. This will help you to wash out the negative effects caused by beverages like tea, coffee, and sticky and acidic foods. Or else you can just rinse your mouth after every meal.

It is always better to drink water throughout the day instead of sugar-sweetened beverages, soda, juice, or any other sugary drinks that lead to a higher risk of cavities. While you can have sugar-sweetened drinks at mealtimes in small volumes.

Conclusion

Practicing healthy teeth practices from a young age can provide you many health benefits. You prevent many issues, cavities, gum disease, and other dental issues just by some daily good habits like brushing twice a day, not smoking and eating a healthy diet. Also, consider seeing a dentist twice a year to maintain your oral hygiene. We hope this blog helps you maintain healthy dental health and thus keeping you healthy.