Go Back to Basics: Teeth and Gum Care

15 Nov Go Back to Basics: Teeth and Gum Care

It’s no surprise that taking good care of your teeth and gums plays a vital role in maintaining good health, for your mouth and your body. Good thing is practicing proper oral care isn’t expensive, and does not take up a lot of time! By watching what you eat, and implementing good oral hygiene, you are providing the basic, important foundation for a healthy mouth. However, caring for your mouth is simple and is imperative for good health. Check out these four simple steps that you can follow to properly care for your gums and teeth:

• Eat properly

• Flossing

• Brushing

• Visiting the dentist

In addition, in order to help avoid gum disease and tooth decay, you must look after and properly care for your teeth. By doing so, you help keep yourself healthy as tooth decay and gum disease is linked to conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Wondering how to properly care for your teeth and gums? Read on to learn some helpful tips on how to properly brush and floss:

Brushing Tips

When you can, brush after every meal, otherwise brush at least twice a day. Brushing is important as it removes plaque, which is a film of bacteria that clings to your teeth. Plaque produces acids when the bacteria comes into contact with food, and these acids can lead to cavities and tooth decay. In order to help effectively brush, follow these helpful tips:

• On the head of the toothbrush, place a pea-sized dab of toothpaste onto the head of the toothbrush.

• Your toothbrush should be held against the teeth at a 45-degree angle to the gum line.

• Using small circular motions, move your toothbrush across the teeth and continue this motion as you clean one tooth at a time.

• You will want to keep the tips of the bristles against the gum line, but be sure to avoid pressing so hard that the bristles lie flat against your teeth.

• You want to brush across the top of the chewing surfaces of the teeth, and be sure to get the bristles of the toothbrush into the crevices and grooves of the teeth.

• Clean the back of the upper and lower teeth, on the sides that face the tongue, using small circular motions.

• Clean the inside of the bottom front teeth by angling the head in an up-and-down position towards the bottom of the mouth. Be sure to continue to use small circular motions to clean the teeth.

• Clean the inside of the top front teeth by moving the toothbrush in small circles and angling the toothbrush in an up-and-down position with the tip of the head of the toothbrush pointing towards the roof of your mouth.

• Do not scrub, but give your tongue some gentle brush strokes and brush from the back of your tongue to the tip of your tongue. This will help freshen your breath by removing the bacteria off of your tongue.

• After you have brushed your teeth for two to three minutes, rinse out your mouth.

• Make sure you replace your toothbrush every three to four months.

Flossing Tips

Along with brushing daily, you will also want to floss at least once a day. Flossing will help you get to the hard to reach places, and will help you get rid of food and plaque from in between your teeth. This is important to do, because if the plaque stays in between the teeth, it will harden into tartar. Tartar must be removed by a dentist. In order to help effectively floss, follow these simple tips:

• From the dispenser, pull and remove about an 18 inch strip of floss from the dispenser.

• You will want to wind the floss around the middle fingers of each hand. Leave a one inch section open for flossing.

• You will want to floss the top teeth first, and then floss the bottom teeth.

• You want to be careful not to push on the floss to hard and injure the gums, but place the floss in your mouth and use your index fingers to push the dental floss in between the teeth.

• You want the dental floss to form a C-shape around the tooth as you floss, and move the dental floss up and down against the tooth, as well as up and around the gum line.

• Be sure to floss in between each tooth, and be sure to include the area behind the back teeth.

• Be sure to replace and use a clean section of dental floss as needed.

Remember to have regular check-ups in order to maintain a healthy smile. In addition, you will want to avoid simple sugars, limit or cut out smoking, drink plenty of water, and have regular dental cleanings and checkups. If you live in the NYC area, and are in need of a dentist, contact us to make an appointment.