Ideally your dentist’s only role should be preventive, to ensure that you are maintaining strong, healthy and in good condition teeth. One thing that you should be concerned with is the way in which you actually achieve your healthy teeth and gums. Your daily tooth care habits that you perform at home will contribute more than anything else to your dental condition. For good or bad, it is completely up to you to figure out what you need to know and to develop the proper habits that you need to have if you want to be able to take good care of your teeth. A good oral health program is made up mainly of three important behaviors. Brushing twice a day, flossing once a day and visiting the dentist at least every six months. It is also important to make sure that your techniques for brushing and flossing are as effective as possible.
There has been a lengthy debate about the fluoride that is found in drinking water, toothpaste and a bunch of other oral care products. Even your annual checkup and cleaning will include what is tantamount to a “tooth bath” in a gooey fluoride paste. People who practice natural and alternative health care medicine believe fluoride to be an unhealthy substance. We’re not going to take part in that debate. So, if you’re comfortable using it, you should know that fluoride has been revered as a cavity prevention tool. So double check to ensure that your toothpaste actually contains fluoride because there are a lot of non-fluoridated toothpastes in production now to keep the anti-fluoride folks happy. Follow your conscience and do what is right for you.
Flossing is done because you want to get the food out from between your teeth and under your gums. Try as you may, simple brushing will not get the job done. In terms of which floss is the best, that really depends on which floss works best for you. Studies have proven that no brand of floss is at a significant advantage over another. The thing that you need to pay particular attention to is how much space there is between your teeth. Waxed floss is going to be bigger and that means that if there isn’t a lot of space between your teeth that could be a problem. In this case, you need floss that is wax free.
We all know that too much sugar ingestion is something that causes cavities. Obviously, however, if your tooth care habits aren’t up to snuff, your problem will only get worse. Another consideration to this problem is when you eat sugar. As an example, if you’re in the habit of eating hard candy that has sugar in it, the ever present presence of sugar in your mouth is not going to help you. A situation like that means your teeth are getting bombarded with the acid produced all the time. It’s very much recommended that you allow your teeth to have a break once in a while. Dentists say going sugar free for even two or three hours can be very helpful.
Young adults and children have seen an overall decline in their oral health for years now. We feel the excessive consumption of soft drinks and sugary snacks is a major contributor. If you are young you still have time to turn this around and preserve what you’ve still got.
