When you brush and floss your teeth daily, and take a few other simple steps, you can protect your smile from serious issues, including tooth decay and gum disease. With these improvements, you can boost your oral hygiene and avoid toothaches, bleeding gums, and more! In today’s blog, your team at Dental Impressions in Ankeny, IA, talks about improving your smile at home (and with help from our team).
Fighting Tooth Decay and Gum Disease
We need routine care at home and in the dentist’s office because otherwise, oral health concerns could develop that threaten our smile’s stability. With time, the sugar and starch in our diet could feed harmful bacteria, creating plaque and tartar buildup that weakens outer enamel and causes painful cavities. The same buildup could also irritate and inflame the gums to create gum disease, which could lead to adult tooth loss with time. To avoid painful symptoms and the risk of eventual tooth loss, we simply need to take better care of our smiles from home. Boosting your oral hygiene only takes a few minutes a day, and can keep your smile full!
Brushing and Flossing
All ages in your family need to brush and floss. You can help babies and toddlers, and monitor your kids too. You could all even brush and floss together! Everyone needs to start their day by brushing their teeth for two minutes when they wake up and then doing the same before going to bed that night. We suggest a toothbrush with soft bristles to avoid inadvertent enamel damage or gum irritation. Fluoride is an important ingredient in the toothpaste, as this helps strengthen outer enamel. Kids three and under need a rice-sized mount, while everyone else can use a pea-sized blot of fluoride toothpaste.
Flossing is essential because this reaches the areas a toothbrush’s bristles cannot. We all need to floss every evening before we go to bed, preferably before we brush that second time. Using tape, string, a pick, or a water flosser, gently clean between the teeth, and dip beneath the gum line too.
Healthier Diets
What we eat and drink matters too! When we consume options with a lot of sugar and starch, which is especially prevalent during Halloween and the holiday season, this can leave behind particles for harmful oral bacteria to break down and consume. When this happens, oral acidity levels elevate and the teeth become coated in plaque and tartar, which creates tooth decay and gum disease. Instead, enjoy more water and healthier snacks, like fresh fruits and veggies, and whole grain breads and crackers.
Dental Impressions Wants to Protect Your Dental Hygiene
We want to help you enjoy better oral hygiene and a lowered risk of tooth decay and gum disease. To schedule an appointment and safeguard your oral health, then call Dental Impressions in Ankeny, IA today at (515) 965-0230.
