Life is all about routines if you want to be efficient in what you do. Without routinizing an activity that you intend to do you might find that you are not doing it. Taking care of your teeth and gums is just one of these activities that you should be pursuing every day, without fail so that your mouth is in the best possible state. Your Bristol dentist can help you by giving you a number of handy hints about this.
Daily dental hygiene goes beyond just brushing, but brushing is a very important part of it. First thing in the morning and last thing at night, you should brush your teeth thoroughly but carefully so that as much plaque as possible is removed from the surfaces of your teeth. Use a brush with strong bristles and some fluoride tooth paste so that your enamel is strengthened in the process of brushing.
Flossing too must form a part of your routine so that plaque is removed from between the teeth where it can cause gum disease and tooth decay. Failure to floss every day can ultimately lead to tooth loss; a painful and undignified event which will require some sort of replacement as a solution.
The diet you choose to eat every day has an impact on the health of your teeth too. Eating lots of food and drink which contains sugar and starch puts your teeth and gums at greater risk because they contribute to greater amounts of plaque forming in the mouth. Smoking is not just bad for your lungs and heart; it can also affect your mouth by decreasing saliva production and leaving your mouth more open to attack from plaque.
Okay, now listen up. If you can learn to keep plaque at bay successfully in Bristol, you have good chance of having good oral health throughout your life. Unfortunately, people are still relatively ignorant when it comes to oral hygiene, so maybe it’s time to take time out and re-educate yourself in looking after your teeth and gums. Firstly, try to watch what you eat to give yourself a strong constitution, and cut back on the joys of life, such as smoking and drinking; doing this will give you a good platform to build from. Then you’re into the heady world of toothbrushes, pastes and mouth-washes. These are important to get right (it may take time at first), because just by keeping your teeth clear of bacteria by brushing and flossing twice a day, will give you a fighting chance against plaque. There are many to choose from, but by enlisting the help of your dentist, you should get there in the end: be sure to keep your brush clean and change it regularly for a new one. Of course, if you still get into trouble and some of those evils get through, you always have the dentist to call on for back-up. They will be able to clean your teeth thoroughly and mend anything that has gone wrong-make sure you keep up your visits for these reasons alone.
When you are taking care of your teeth and gums you shouldn’t limit your strategy to brushing and flossing. Of course they are vital activities which should be carried out daily in the correct fashion: brushing twice for at least three minutes and again after meals if desired, using a fluoride enriched tooth paste and so on. But there are other things to consider when trying to give your mouth the best chance of staying healthy.
Certain foods cause more plaque to be produced and these should be avoided, kept to a minimum or eating immediately prior to brushing. It is substances which contain a lot of sugar and or starch which produce the most plaque in your mouth. Plaque can attack the enamel which naturally protects your teeth and so it is best to minimise the amount of it which can thrive in your mouth. Sweet treats should be just that: treats. But also foods like fruit and fruit drinks can produce a lot of plaque. These should not be avoided because they are nutritious but you should think about when you are eating them.
Sometimes people like to brush immediately after a meal so that plaque is stopped in its tracks. Some choose to have a little cheese after their dessert because this can actually remove some of the plaque that your sugary course will have produced in your mouth.
The key is to be sensible with your diet and eat all the food groups in balanced proportions. There is nothing inherently wrong with eating sugary and starchy things, indeed the body needs them, but you should keep them to a minimum. Your Swindon dentist is an expert in such matters and can advise you about the right diet to keep your teeth and gums healthy.
There are many factors that cause bad breath in Weston-super-mare and they don’t always relate to the mouth. Having a healthy diet can retain a strong immune system, keep the blood clean and keep your gastric system healthy, which in turn, affects the state of your teeth and gums. Smoking and excessive drinking also impact on the health of your breath. A combination of all these can affect the level of saliva produced in the mouth. Saliva is a natural repellent to bacteria that builds up on the surface on the teeth. If the saliva dries up, so does the mouth, making the teeth and gums vulnerable to a build up of plaque and tartar that leads to tooth decay and gum disease, out of which comes bad breath. Another factor that contributes to the problem is poor oral hygiene. Irregular cleaning and flossing can allow bacteria to develop from foodstuffs that are lodged between the teeth; the food can become pungent and leave bad tastes in the mouth and if something tastes wrong, it will smell wrong. Treating the problem can take a lot of effort to remedy. Firstly, a consultation with the dentist would be advisable before undertaking a course of healthy living and good oral hygiene. But bear in mind, having bad breath can not only unsociable, but indicates more serious problems such as oral cancer.
In Swindon, we can quite often place a heavy burden on dentists to resolve problems that arise in our mouths, and then usually scoff at the prices they charge for treatments when the bill comes in. It rather highlights the ignorance we have towards oral health because if we just took a little time out to research how to look after our teeth and gums, then we wouldn’t need our dentist that often. Oral health starts at home, as does taking responsibility for how we look after our bodies and our teeth. For starters, good diet and taking everything in moderation, like smoking and drinking, can help to build up our immune system and give strength to our teeth. Not only this, there are enough oral products out there at reasonable prices that make poor oral hygiene inexcusable. A daily routine of brushing with the right paste and brush, flossing and mouth washing should be enough to keep plaque and gum disease at bay- that and a couple of visits to the dentist each year for check-ups. But the importance of keeping our mouths healthy affects our overall health. Poor oral hygiene can lead to gum disease and in turn, to heart and kidney complications as well as oral cancer. There is no excuse for ignorance in dental hygiene, seeing as not only do we have our dentist to consult with, the internet is a hive of information on how we can look after ourselves.
If you pay a visit to any dentist in Bristol, you can put your mind at rest, knowing that the person who is about to access your mouth, has been trained to a certain level, to carry out general dentistry practises on you to a set of prime directives (we hope!). Essentially, this involves finding out if you have any problems and then solving them, to maintain your oral health. Of course, some problems are not reversible, but your dentist is trained to give it a blooming good go. When you have had check-ups throughout your life, your dentist will have built up an historical profile of you by charting your visits. X-rays would have been taken and records kept of any work done. Along with this, your general dentist will always have a set of guidelines to follow to check the health of your teeth and gums. They will check for any signs of plaque and tartar build up, gum disease or tooth decay and then set about corrective treatments such as cleaning, polishing filling and even removing your teeth They are also there to give advice on any problems you may have, any cosmetic treatments you are considering- everything This is what’s known as general dentistry. Of course, once they have built up this data, they will be in a better position to refer you to someone, if you require specialist treatment, for the best possible results.
Taking good care of your mouth ought to be something that is practiced every day with due care and attention and yet so many of us have busy lives. As such teeth and gums can be an after thought. But it is worth taking care of your mouth so that you can eat, drink, talk and smile in comfort and not have to undergo invasive surgery.
Good oral hygiene begins at home with the way you take care of your teeth. Brushing and flossing at least twice a day should be enough to rid your mouth of the plaque which can be so damaging to teeth and gums. While you are doing this you can be vigilant for signs of gum disease and tooth decay so that you can report anything to your dentist if you find it.
Having a healthy diet can hugely benefit your mouth. Eating less sugary and starchy foods gives plaque less chance. Consuming too much alcohol and smoking tobacco can compromise the health of your mouth and they are leading causes of oral cancer.
Alongside these measures, be sure to get into the habit of visiting your dentist every six months. Allowing a trained dental expert the chance to thoroughly examine your mouth gives you the best chance of avoiding nasty conditions. Most issues with your mouth, such as gum disease, are not actually that serious in themselves but it is vital that they are caught early on so they don’t progress into something worse.
Take these tips on board and you should experience a life time of good oral health. Your Swindon dentist can give you more handy hits next time you go and visit the surgery.
Dr Gerrard is a Bristol based Cosmetic dentist with many years of experience and is one of only a small number of dentists accredited by The British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
