If you can take just a moment to think through an entire day, the way you care for your smile throughout that 24-hour period, the foods you eat and drink, and any other detail you can muster up, we suggest one thing at the moment: Take stock of any habits you might be participating in that can lead to problems for your smile health. Why all of this self-reflection, you ask? Well, it’s easy to accidentally fall into little habits here and there without really noticing until you shine a spotlight on them! Our Ankeny, IA team encourages you to break these types of habits ASAP, so you make maintaining a healthy grin nice and easy.
#1: Eating Ice
Yum! So refreshing! Yet, so damaging to your teeth. We understand why you may find yourself drawn to choosing ice as a snack. You might even find yourself assuming that as long as the ice you’re enjoying is crushed that it’s okay. However, all ice is very, very hard. This means that it is hard on your teeth, which isn’t something you want on a regular or even one-time basis. In order to do your best to keep your smile health super safe, avoid eating ice. It can lead to cracked teeth that need crowns or extractions and it can erode dental tissue (or chip it), too.
#2: Eating In Bed (And Then Falling Asleep)
Love to eat in bed after a long, hard day? We get it. However, this is also something we strongly suggest you avoid (unless you’re very, very good about rinsing and then brushing and flossing about 30 minutes after your snack). If there’s even the slightest possibility that you might fall asleep without brushing, then this is one to avoid. Otherwise, you’ll be inviting cavities (and more) to form.
#3: Only Flossing When It Seems “Important”
You might have taken it upon yourself to decide that our suggestion to floss once daily is probably not actually necessary. Instead, you just floss when it seems like you need to. Maybe you floss when it seems like you have stuff stuck between teeth, when your smile feels a bit grimy, or when you can see that food is lodged between teeth. This is a habit to break immediately. While you may not be able to actively see that you’re removing bacteria every day with daily flossing (which allows you to prevent serious problems), this is what flossing does. Get back to it as a daily habit!
Break Bad Habits For Better Oral Health
Talk with us about your smile and your approach to care and consider any habits we deem as negatively impactful for your oral health! Create good habits instead, for an easier time with smile protection. Visit us for a dental checkup in Ankeny, IA by contacting Dental Impressions to schedule a visit at (515) 965-0230.
