4 Ways to Have Good Dental Health
Image via Wikipedia
According to many dental professionals, there are only a few hygiene principles that people need to practice if they want to keep their teeth and gums healthy for a lifetime. Here are a few of the key principles:
Brushing
Tooth brushing should begin as soon as a child has his very first tooth. Baby teeth are very susceptible to cavities, especially if a child frequently has a bottle or cup full of juice to drink. Parents should never allow their children to fall asleep with a bottle in their mouth, even if they are old enough to avoid choking on it.
Some people believe that the bristles on their brush should be stiff in order for them to remove tough tartar, but in reality the bristles should be soft, and the teeth should be brushed continuously for around two minutes, twice a day.
Flossing
Some people do not like to floss because it hurts their gums. If your mouth hurts when using regular dental floss, check Canada 411 for places that distribute tape-type floss. This type of floss slides between the tightest of teeth. If your gums hurt or bleed when flossing, it is time to visit the dentist.
Dental Visits
Rarely do people go through life with no cavities. Even people who brush twice a day and floss after each meal will benefit from a dental visit. The dentist can find cavities before they become painful, and the hygenist will scrape away the gum-damaging tartar.
Fluoride
Developed areas have fluoride in their municipal water, but some adults may need treatments with it to strengthen their teeth.
Keep your Teeth Healthy as an Adult
You know the rules, the way to brush and not to brush. Still, as you get older, those little cavity suckers seem to be eating your mouth out. You’ve had root canals, pulled teeth experiences, and even gingivitis. For years you have been told to floss, but you haven’t. You have been told to visit the dentist twice a year from the dentist as well as your good old insurance policy, but do you?
Here’s what you can do to keep your teeth and gums in the pink!
- Choose your toothbrush carefully. You probably don’t want hard bristles. Soft bristles help you to brush without hurting your gums.
- Brush twice a day. Use a toothpaste with flouride.
- Floss at least once a day. Take the weekend off if you’d like to, but resume on Monday.
- Or invest in a Water pik toothbrush. A lot like flossing, but far more fun. Around $50.
- Gargle with mouthwash after brushing. Keep your breath smelling fresh, and give your teeth and gums an extra kick.
- Visit the dentist twice a year. Even a small cavity is a better experience than a large one.
- Whitening your teeth doesn’t keep your teeth any more healthy, but whitening does make your teeth look healthier. Try this free home whitening remedy here: http://www.essortment.com/all/whitenyourteet_pry.htm or ask your dentist what she recommends.
Knowing the rules of teeth brushing, as you know, if only half of the battle. The difficult part comes in the doing. Start out small. Perhaps floss twice a week to start, or floss only at night when you’re not in a hurry. Find a way to remember what you’ve started; whether it is sticking a handy reminder on your vanity mirror or keeping the items for use out on the counter until you have it down.
Keeping your teeth healthy may not appear easy at first, but like everything else you start and somehow manage to finish, healthy teeth will come in time, and you’ll be glad you did it.
The Soft Bristle Requirement
There’s blood in the sink — you stare, surprised, wondering what the cause could be. Your teeth didn’t slip against your tongue. There are no ulcers that could’ve opened (and that still stuns you, reminds how fortunate you’ve been not to have the stress of your career manifest in your mouth). There is not even a trace of Gingivitis. Your dentist has offered proof of your good health, has assured you always that there is no concern to find.
And so you peek into a mirror, examining your lips, trying to discover what is wrong. That discovery is a quick one, though. Because there are flecks of blood along your gum-line, little openings, tender. The skin has been cut — and the culprit is your toothbrush.
It seems like an impossible thing. The intention of a brush, after all, is to protect teeth, to ensure no dental problems occur. But the hard bristles (so unyielding) claw at your gums, causing instant damage and a variety of troubles: such as tearing, recessions, sores and swelling.
All of these complications can be easily avoided, however — you simply must choose the right tool.
Be certain the item is clearly marked as soft. The title should be available on the packaging. If not, ask for assistance. Once a purchase has been made take time to test the bristles. Drag them against your fingers before placing them into your mouth. If they bend with ease, they should be acceptable. If they offer resistance, they will only hurt. Make sure they move appropriately.
Using the softer alternatives will enable you to scrub your teeth as needed — without irritating your gums. The sores will disappear and the bleeding will stop. Should you be unsure of which brush to purchase, however, contact your dentist and ask for recommendations. He will offer the best choices and help you to reduce all problems.
Soft bristles, quick relief: that’s the philosophy you must remember.
The Necessary Visits: Discovering Disease
Your life is defined to chaos. All days are burdened to the hassles of a career, the demands of your family. All evenings are spent trying to organize the aftermath, preparing for the mornings to come. It’s an endless cycle of causes and their dull effects — and there’s no time to spare, even for the recommended dentist visits. You can’t waste your afternoons on such things: navigating traffic, yielding to needles. Your schedule is simply too full. Even a singular appointment would demand too much effort, steal too much focus.
It also, however, would’ve prevented the spread of Gingivitis along your gums.
You thought those were mere ulcers, the physical proof of stress. A tender mouth was dismissed; all soreness was ignored. The arrival of blood, though, made you worry — and your dentist eventually confirmed what should’ve been seen months ago. You’re suffering from Gingivitis and better care is required.
This is, you believe, a misfortune. It could’ve been far worse, though.
Your mouth is filled with bacteria, the spread of plaque and acid. These elements can cause a wide variety of complications — all of which can progress quickly, forcing you to endure endless hours of treatment. Such progression could be stalled, however, if the problems are noticed in their early stages.
This, of course, demands that you visit your dentist — often.
Your life is hectic. This can’t be denied. But the chance of contracting an oral illness (however minor) is far too high. It can’t be ignored, thought to be unlikely. You must instead prepare for the possibility; and this requires frequent check-ups with your doctor.
Twice a year is the minimum suggestion — and you must try to adhere to it. Schedule appointments and seek an opinion of your mouth, teeth and gums. Prevent disease before occurs. Allow your dentist to find the signs and offer care.
The time you spend in an office is time you won’t regret.
The Flossing Requirement
It’s a simple string, hanging limp between your fingers. You stare at it, the disdain caught in the reflection of a mirror. You’ve been encouraged always to floss, have been told that it’s essential (part of a dental health campaign, meant to prevent attacks of tartar). But the notion does not appeal — you have so little time in the morning, and sparing it for this awkward process is not an idea you want to accept. It’s a hassle to search between teeth, to maneuver through the crevices. Bacteria is too clever, managing always to hide. You have no patience to chase after it.
So you don’t — and your hygiene suffers for it.
Flossing is not to be ignored, considered too great of a burden. It’s instead to be understood as vital. When you refuse to utilize this process you allow plaque to spread throughout your mouth, triggering health concerns and the need for several dentist visits; and those you would prefer to avoid.
Simply explained: flossing allows you to clean around each tooth, removing the minuscule particles that have slipped inside. Doing this greatly reduces the chance of you having sudden worries of Gingivitis, gum recession, enamel loss, tartar growth or infection (which can be caused as plaque grows, allowing sores to appear and enable elements to creep inside the blood stream as they open). Your mouth can be clean.
Refusing to adhere to this regimen, however, only heightens the possibility for disease and puts you at risk for sudden pain — which would then need to be eased by a dentist, costing you countless hours and insurance woes.
A few meager minutes a day, though, can maintain both health and dollars. Resisting therefore seems absurd.
Flossing is not to be forgotten, dismissed as a frustration. You must instead couple it with your routine of brushing and rinsing, ensuring that your teeth are fully cared for.
Strip away tartar to secure oral safety.
Getting Dental Patients To Understand
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Being a dentist can be a rather difficult thing. It’s tough when a patient comes in who has clearly not cared about his or her teeth. You want to shake them or tell them to shape up because of the long term damage it can have on their heart, health, and financial concerns that poor dental care can have on them. So the real question becomes: how do you get your patient to start caring about their teeth the way they care about their favorite televisions shows.
Start Slow
Asking a patient to floss every single day after they have spent years not flossing at all would make for a rather big commitment to fill. Asking them to floss weekly is a much more safe and reachable goal. Once they see the benefits of it they might be willing to do it more. But you can’t go from 0 to 60. There has to be a nice middle ground.
Keep the Important Things
Once again it’s nice if your patient does a complete 180 and decides to do what you want them to do to it’s fullest but the truth of the situation is that there is only so much you can get them to do. Getting them to floss weekly and brush their teeth at least twice a day is a good start. Make sure they are brushing it in the morning and once again at night before bed. You can’t change everything so you have to change what you can. This is a good start.
Don’t Try Too Hard
Here’s the thing: you can’t get everyone to change. The only thing you can do is get them the right advice and then let them do what they want. You can’t help everyone. You can only do what you can do.
Caring for Teeth as We Age
- Image via Wikipedia
As we age, our tissue becomes weaker, our bones become more brittle, and our bodies become more prone to infection. Although the elderly may be more prone to infection of the gums and other dental complications, there are a few maintenance steps that can help you reduce the number of visits to dental hygienists. Of course, the capability of each individual to carry out effective teeth and gum cleaning techniques vary greatly. If impaired mobility makes it difficult for seniors to practice healthy dental hygiene, they may need assistance from family members, nurses, or dentistry professionals.
This fact of life is the primary reason that dental hygienists recommend gargling after each meal for elderly people. Food left behind in the mouth after meals can get stuck in the gum line and lead to serious and uncomfortable dentistry complications. Regular gargling after every meal helps to flush excess food away and leaves the mouth at less risk of harboring infectious debris.
For seniors who rely on dentures, teeth should be removed and cleaned regularly, and gargling should take place when the gums are exposed.
Regular flossing is a critical step for all ages in maintaining healthy dental hygiene. There are various flosses on the market, and waxed floss is often easier to use than unwaxed floss. Flossing may become more difficult with age, and senior citizens who are unable to floss regularly should seek assistance from dental hygienists. Some dental hygienists recommend water flossing as an alternative when regular flossing becomes difficult.
Even the most consistently practiced dental hygiene habits are not necessarily guaranteed to prevent tooth and gum complications in seniors. Many early stages of gum disease are barely noticeable by sensation, but are highly recognizable by a trained eye. Regular visits to your dental hygienists canf help identify potential dental health risks before they become serious.
Diagnosing A Receeding Gumline and How to Treat It
- Image via Wikipedia
A receding gum line is a disease that can almost always be avoided by using good dental hygiene. A receding gum line is one where the the gums shrink back far enough so that the roots of the teeth become exposed. When this happens, food can become trapped underneath the gum line and bacteria also has easy access to the roots. Because of this foreign material gaining access to such a sensitive area, pockets of infection form easily which results in the loss of teeth and jawbone. A receding gum line also causes the teeth to be sensitive to hot and cold food and liquid.
When a person does not brush and floss their teeth, they set their mouths up for damaged gum lines but this problem can also caused by being hit in the mouth, having crooked teeth or having genetically thin gums. Periodontal disease also causes receding gums. A person will begin to show signs of this disease before their dental hygienist even diagnoses them with it. Some things to look for include: noticing that the teeth seem longer than they used to and the spaces in between the teeth seem to be getting wider, having bad breath, having swollen or reddish gums. If the teeth bleed after they are brushed or the roots of the teeth can be seen, more than likely the gums have begun to recede.
A trip to the dental hygienist will help determine what is causing this gum line problem. If only the few teeth in front are affected, the cause is probably due to the tooth brushing method used by the patient but if all of the gums in the whole mouth are receded, there is probably some periodontal disease involved. The dental hygienist can teach the patient the best way to care for their teeth or set them up with treatment if they do indeed have periodontal disease.
What is Flossing and Doing it Correctly
- Image via Wikipedia
Flossing is one of the important dental hygiene procedures done to maintain your dental hygiene. Flossing is done with the help of dental floss. Dental floss is a bundle of thin filaments made of nylon, Teflon or polyethylene. Flossing means inserting the floss in between teeth to remove the food particles lodged there. It has to be done regularly in order to have a clean and healthy mouth. Dental floss comes either with or without flavor and as waxed or unwaxed. You can select one as per your preferences.
How is Flossing done?
• Step 1
Dental floss comes in 10 to 50 meters length kept in a small plastic dispenser. You have an end in the dispenser which connects the floss. Pull required length of loss and cut it with the bladed edge in the dispenser.
• Step 2
Hold the floss between the middle fingers of your opposite hands and gently insert it between the gaps of your teeth. Shape the floss into a C shape and start scrapping the sides of your teeth gently with the inserted floss. It will remove the sticky food remains. It also helps to remove dental plaque when done regularly. Scrap the floss by bending in such a way that the sticky food and plaque from the front and back of the tooth are also scrapped.
• Step 3
Take the floss down to the gum line and very gently move it back and forth to remove the sticking food remains from the gum line. Take care not to exert pressure on gum line, instead exert pressure only against the tooth.
Word of Caution
Improper method of flossing or occasional flossing may cause your gum to bleed. So learn to do it regularly in a proper manner to maintain a good dental hygiene. But if the bleeding of your gums persists even after a week of proper flossing, then it can be a sign of gingivitis, so refer a dentist and get it treated.
Dental Care for Aged People
Elderly people are often confronted with one or more dental problems. Due to the absence of fluoridated water and other dental care products in their young age, elders are prone to have caries which forms the root cause for various dental problems. But in order to avoid serious periodontal diseases, even elders can take some routine care tips.
Proper Brushing
Elders are advised to brush with a medium soft brush with a dental paste incorporated with fluoride content. Depending on the hand moving capabilities of the elders, brush has to be selected. Various types of brushes with specially designed handles are available in order to help elders with minimum difficulty in hand movements. Electrical brushes with large handle prove effective for elders with pain in hand. Brushing must be done properly twice a day or at least once a day.
Regular Flossing
Use a dental floss to remove the food remaining lodged in between the teeth and gum lines. If there is problem in finger grip and movement, get help of somebody to floss your mouth at least once in a three days. Interdental cleaners can also be used to clean the spaces between teeth.
Gargling
Dry mouth is a common problem with elderly people. Gargling with warm or cold water after every meal time will help to remove the food particles stuck to the teeth. If you want to rinse your mouth with mouth wash, then it must be diluted before usage; as mouth wash can cause irritation due to its alcohol content. Take assistance of dental hygienist to wash away the food particles with a water irrigator once in a month.
Wiping
Elders who are bed ridden or unable to brush, teeth should be wiped with clean and damp gauze. This would help to remove the food particles sticking to the teeth and gums.
Denture Care
Elders who use dentures should clean the dentures with warm water after eating. Mouth must also be gargled thoroughly after eating every meal.
Regular visits to dentist are a must for elders to avoid serious dental problems.
