Explore the Importance of Good Oral Hygiene
Do you want healthy teeth to make you feel and look good? Do you have a daily regime that helps you to practice good oral hygiene? Make oral hygiene as part of your lifestyle as a bright smile, clean teeth and good breath not only attract people but help you to maintain overall general health with a wealth of benefits. Periodical visits to the dentist are important as professional help improves great oral hygiene techniques as well as preventing deadly diseases that result from neglect and/or bad maintenance of the teeth. If oral hygiene is a part and parcel of your daily regimen, you will possess teeth that do not have debris and look clean with healthy pink gums and fresh breath. Your dentist can offer you advice and dental hygiene tips that can leverage good health and help you to prevent painful diseases of the oral cavity that are not only expensive to treat but those which affect and lead to chronic diseases of the body.
Discover Vital Dental Tips and Advice
If daily oral hygiene is practiced in a systematic way with regular visits to the dentist, a healthy oral cavity would result and people can enjoy normal lifestyles. There are several ways to maintain the well-being of the oral cavity with preventive care that includes flossing and brushing with dental products that have fluoride, using a fluoride mouthwash, eating a diet that is balanced, organising children’s oral hygiene besides making sure that fluoridated products and water are used. The best way to enable good oral hygiene is with proper brushing of the teeth and flossing. The toothbrush should be held at the gumline at a 45-degree angle and brushed gently in a rolling or a sweeping motion that would cover the entire tooth. The inside, the chewing surfaces, the outside and the back of the teeth should be brushed with strokes that go back and forth. The tongue should be brushed gently to clean up the bacteria that would have collected leaving the mouth with fresh breath. The teeth should be flossed thoroughly. An 18-inch piece of floss should be wound around the fingers and the each tooth should be cleaned with an up and down motion.
Good oral hygiene is of vital importance as dental decay, calculus and dental plaque can be avoided with dental erosion being delayed. If the teeth and gums are neglected as people do not practice oral hygiene, calculus or tartar can form which is a hard and calcified plaque that can be removed by a dentist only. If oral hygiene is not practiced daily, dental plaque is produced which is a soft deposit and white in colour. If the teeth are not cleaned on a regular basis, the bacteria blend with the saliva and the food and form a film over the teeth. Regular visits to the dentist and good oral hygiene should be a part of daily life to prevent dental or tooth erosion.
Prevent Gum Diseases with Good Oral Habits
Tooth erosion can damage the surface of the teeth exposing the underlying dentine which results in the teeth being sensitive to sweet, cold and hot foods. Another harmful aspect that can result when the teeth and gums are neglected is periodontal disease or gum disease. Periodontal disease causes infection of the tissues around the teeth which results from accumulation of plaque. If the gum disease is severe, it may result in periodontitis and gingivitis. Gingivitis affects the gums resulting in inflammation and leading to periodontitis which in turn affects the membrane of the tissues around the teeth. This condition also causes halitosis or bad breath. Dentists advise their patients to adhere or practice good oral hygiene to prevent infections affecting the oral cavity especially tooth decay or caries. Caries is a condition where holes form in the enamel of the tooth due to plaque build-up. The sugar and the starch in the food mix with the bacteria and form a plaque which is sticky and acidic in nature. This melts down the enamel of the tooth and the patient would need inlays, crowns or fillings.
In order to keep the teeth healthy, a balanced diet should be taken with plenty of fruits, vegetables and water. Sweet foods, juices with sugar and aerated drinks should be avoided as acidic drinks and foods lead to erosion of the teeth. Smoking should be avoided as it leads to gum disease. Instead people can resort to chewing sugar-free gum as chewing gum will increase the saliva which washes the debris and acid from the teeth which is deposited after a meal. As an important part of life, children should be taught the importance of good oral hygiene with periodic dental visits so that the dentist can check the condition of the teeth and gums and offer the necessary treatment and advice.