Keeping your teeth healthy is not just about keeping them looking good, it also deals with not getting cavities, or having to deal with issues when you get older like losing your teeth, getting dentures really early on and even dealing with diseases like gum disease. If you want to keep your children’s teeth healthy for life on to adult hood or even if you just want to keep your own teeth healthy if you aren’t a parent, there might be a few things you may have not considered in terms of how to keep your teeth healthy. Below, we will be going over a variety of tips and data on keeping your teeth healthy, looking good, and keeping all of those nasty cavities and diseases away!
You Are What You Eat
Believe it or not, but every single thing you put in your mouth as far as food and drink goes, can affect your mouth, teeth and gums. If you chose the right foods early on, you probably don’t have to worry about this. But, if you chose the wrong foods, you may be paying for it later on in life when you get older. One thing you might not realize is that your mouth is full of things like germs and bacteria, these germs and bacteria are natural in your mouth, but when you add in sugary or starchy substances that are in many of the foods today, they will thrive on these substances and create things like plaque. Plaque is essentially an acid and its main focus of attack; your teeth, specifically the enamel on your teeth. Once the enamel is gone from your teeth, it’s all downhill from there because the enamel on your teeth acts as a sort of shield to your teeth. With the enamel gone, cavities can happen a lot more often in all sorts of little crevices, bumps and grooves in your teeth. Make sure you choose foods and drinks that are low in sugar in starches.
Flossing Is Important
You might be surprised to learn that people in general either don’t floss enough or they aren’t flossing correctly. And yes, there is a right way and a wrong way, but I think the wrong way is probably better than not flossing at all, don’t you think? Either way, flossing not enough or incorrectly, can lead to issues such as cavities or even gum disease. Essentially if you are one of the people that doesn’t clean between their teeth, you are missing out on about 60% of your mouth! In order to remove plaque and food particles correctly, you will need to hook the floss around the tooth in a C shape so that it hooks out the plaque and food particles between your teeth. Dentists have been urging people to floss between their teeth for 20+ years now and yet only about 5% of the population has actually listed! You should be flossing as much as you brush i.e.; if you brush your teeth in the morning and at night before bed, you should floss then as well. You can also floss during the day such as after lunch.
Your Toothbrush Matters
To be honest, I don’t even know why some companies offer hard bristles. These are not good for your teeth or your gums. Instead use medium or soft. Hard toothbrushes can actually cause scratching to your enamel which can expose your dentine making it easier for cavities to break through the barrier and also exposing the dentine can make your teeth look more yellow than they really are. If you are using a medium toothbrush and you are noticing that it’s hurting your gums or you have bleeding gums, this doesn’t automatically mean you have gum disease, it just means the toothbrush is too rough. Try wetting the brush before adding your toothpaste and then try brushing your teeth. Hot water will soften the bristles on your toothbrush by quite a bit!
Changing Your Toothbrush
Speaking of toothbrushes, it’s a good idea to change your toothbrush out, every 3 months. The reason behind this? It loses its effectiveness. If you look at a toothbrush that is just like yours, versus the one you’ve had for 6 months to a year you will begin to notice subtle differences such as the bristles being worn down, pushed down, or winged out. These bristles are not reaching your teeth and cleaning them as well as a new toothbrush by any means. Also, as mentioned above, your mouth is full of bacteria which of course gets on your toothbrush whenever you brush your teeth. Sort of gross when you start to think about it! Anyway, replace your toothbrush every 3 months, no less and no more.
