Check your mirror. Your face looks great, right? But did you know your teeth give your face its pretty shape? So, if you still want to maintain and enhance this good look, you must keep in mind the convenient dental tips generously shared in this article. Keep reading for a healthy smile.
Brush
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 4 adults aged between 20 and 64 has cavities. So, if you don’t take good care of your teeth, your chances of developing tooth decay are very high. However, you must understand that brushing teeth is your most convenient dental hack against tooth decay. Even so, ensure to brush your teeth properly. Probably, you forgot to brush your teeth last evening, but remember, there’s a huge difference between regular and effective teeth brushing.
To brush your teeth properly, start with your outer teeth. Gently hold your toothbrush at 45 degrees, and clean your teeth in a circular motion from tooth to tooth. This motion will help the toothbrush access every nook and cranny of your teeth. Repeat with your inner teeth. Using back-and-forth strokes, clean the surface of your teeth to remove plaque. Still at a 45-degree angle, gently stroke your gum line to remove stubborn food particles. Lastly, clean your tongue gently in a small circular motion to kill odor-causing bacteria.
Also, never skip brushing your teeth before bed. In the concrete, it’s a dental disaster that, according to Study Finds, 1 in 10 Americans skip brushing their teeth before bed. It would be best to eliminate any food particles or sugars (bacteria food) before retiring to bed. More importantly, visit your dentist immediately for a cosmetic dental service if you notice tooth decay. Your smile depends on it.
Floss
Have you ever wondered why there’s always a handy toothpick holder near your favorite’s dinner cash register? Well, your restaurant owner knows that, eventually, food will get stuck between your teeth. Thinking of how much gunk rests between your teeth can make you sick. In fact, the danger to your dental health is that it’s impossible to notice all the food particles that get stuck in your teeth. Worse, your brush can’t entirely clean between your teeth. The good news is that flossing does a better job of removing food particles hiding in between your teeth; that’s why the best dentist will always recommend everyone floss regularly.
Your tooth has five surfaces – occlusal, distal, mesial, and lingual. Your toothbrush only reaches three areas, except distal and mesial. These two surfaces are very close to the respective sides of other teeth; hence, food particles will easily stick there. The food debris, water, bacteria, and other components will build up to form plaque. Flossing is a convenient dental hack that helps to remove plaque easily, and if you fail to floss, the plaque will harden and advance to tartar.
Take Care of Gums
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 19% of the adult population suffers from periodontal diseases globally. That’s above 1 billion cases worldwide. Therefore, you must visit your dentist frequently for regular dental health checkups. Supposing you notice gum inflammation, that could be an early sign of gingivitis, which requires immediate dentist’s attention. When ignored, the disease will progress to cause gum pain, discomfort, or worse, teeth loss.
Protecting your gums means taking care of your general health. In fact, Penn Medicine warns that bacteria found in gum disease travel in your body, causing infection in your heart valves and inflammation in your heart’s vessels. As a result, you’ll be increasing your chances of suffering from a stroke, heart attack, and sudden vascular events.
Fortunately, taking good care of your gums is simple to keep gum diseases at bay. The trick is to maintain convenient dental hygiene practices, such as brushing your teeth twice daily and flossing your teeth daily to remove food particles stuck between your teeth. Also, flushing out food particles using mouthwash works well too.
In case of red or swollen gums, rinse twice weekly using mild salt water to help the gum heal quickly, and if the symptoms persist, you must visit your dentist immediately. You should know that smoking doubles your chances of getting gum disease. So, if you’re a smoker, you must go slow on it or quit.
Have Regular Checkups
Even if you’re fastidious, you may fail to clean the hard-to-reach areas in your mouth – for example, the molars, which are notoriously hard to clean. Hence, regular checkups are a convenient dental care step for overall dental hygiene. Your dentist will check for the early signs of tooth decay. If they notice any cavity or white spot in your mouth, they’ll immediately put you on fluoride treatment to treat decay and use dental fillings to treat larger cavities.
Besides general teeth and gum examination, your dentist will also check for any sign of oral cancer in your mouth. When undetected, oral cancer can easily develop into a life-threatening disease. Your dentist will check for dead tissues from tumors using a special light. The exam is known as the VELscope cancer exam. It’s a painless and convenient dental checkup that lasts only a minute or two.
Another reason you must visit your dentist regularly is the head and neck exam. Your dentist will check for lumps, lymph nodes, neck swelling, jaw swelling, deformities, and other signs of illness. When your dentist detects any illness, they’ll immediately refer you to the appropriate specialist medical professional.
Start Early
Dental care doesn’t start in adulthood. It would help if you start it on your kids early, as children, too, can get dental diseases. In fact, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, between 2011 and 2016, 23% of children aged 2 to 5 years had dental carries on their primary teeth. Therefore, visiting a pediatric dentist is a convenient dental step to protect your kids from dental diseases from childhood.
Cavities or tooth decay are children’s most prevalent dental cases. However, such cases are preventable, but you must be willing to ensure that your children follow a strict oral hygiene routine at home. You must also ensure to schedule pediatric dentist visits as a preventive measure. Likely, the dentist will use dental sealants and fluoride treatments to protect children from disease-causing bacteria.
X-rays, regular exams, and the latest technologies are helping pediatric dentists identify early-onset issues before they develop into more serious ones. Also, this includes issues concerning teeth grinding, borne developmental problems, overbites, and underbites. The long-term prognosis will be better when the pediatric dentist addresses such problems quickly.
Use Flouride Toothpaste
Flouride is an essential element when it comes to your overall dental health. According to the National Institute of Health, water fluoridation significantly reduces decay and filling, the loss of baby teeth by 35%, and the loss of adult teeth by 26%! It’s a mineral occurring naturally on the earth’s crust and then released into the air, soil, and water. So, to protect your teeth, it’s essential to use fluoride toothpaste to help protect tooth decay.
Sugars and bacterias form acids that slowly decays your teeth. However, fluoride toothpaste will strengthen your enamel (hard protective teeth surface), enabling your teeth to resist acidity. In the long term, the fluoride toothpaste will help you decrease the rate of your tooth decay and minimize the number of cavities an average person experiences.
Flouring in toothpaste will significantly reduce demineralization and re-mineralize enamel. These processes work to reduce the early stages of tooth decay. It also decreases plaque build-up in your teeth – a clear culprit to gum disease and tooth decay. While it’s true that fluoride toothpaste will help to brighten your smile, cosmetic dentists who specialize in improving your smile appearance do even better jobs. So, if you care so much about your dental aesthetics, you must schedule an appointment with a cosmetic dentist to enhance your smile.
Understand Your Health
Understanding your health plays a significant role in protecting your teeth. Your health can directly affect your dental health and appearance. So, to care for your teeth, you must understand whether you’re ailing from a condition that affects your overall dental health.
Are you ailing from diseases such as diabetes, autoimmune disorders, or cardiovascular disease? If so, you must understand that there are systematic health connections and your overall dental health. For example, people with diabetes have a higher chance of contracting gum disease. The disease can weaken the immune system, making it extremely difficult for your body to fight infection. Therefore, it may heighten your risk of gum bleeding and inflammation, leading to gum disease.
Your lifestyle habits also significantly impact your overall dental health. For this reason, you must take caution in your diet and minimize your alcohol intake and smoking. For instance, eating tonnes of sugary foods without a convenient dental care plan will lead to plaque build and tooth decay. Additionally, a poor lifestyle will age you faster, necessitating you to visit your local facelift surgeon and also increasing your chances of contracting lifestyle diseases.
See Emergency Services if in an Accident
An accident can happen at any minute. For instance, you may slip and fall while walking and chip your tooth. Also, American roads are prone to accidents. In fact, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, every 10 seconds, a person will get a motor vehicle-related injury. Often, such injuries will require immediate dental attention. However, you should get an auto accident attorney to ensure you get compensation for dental and other hospital bills.
A broken or chipped tooth will ruin your perfect smile. Also, it can be excruciating. Therefore, you’ll need immediate dental care. However, before heading out, rinse your mouth with warm water and put a piece of gauze to stop the bleeding. Also, to avoid swelling and relieve pain, apply a compress to the area of your face closest to your chipped tooth.
In the case of a knocked-out tooth, immediately pick it up by the crown and rinse the root. You must avoid removing the attached tissues and fragments. Depending on the level of your injury, you can put your tooth back in place, but be extra careful and avoid pushing it into the socket. If you do this quickly, you may have a chance of saving your knocked-out tooth and restoring it in place. However, your best alternative is to put it in a cup with water or milk with a pinch of salt to preserve it and rush to your dentist immediately.
Drink Water
Water treatment significantly affects your overall dental health. The process involves removing harmful bacteria and viruses, fluoridation, sediment removal, PH adjustment, and reducing chemical contaminants, ensuring that you drink water that doesn’t harm your teeth.
Any liquid will likely flush down your food; however, no fluid does a better job than water. Drinking sugary drinks such as soda, sweet tea, juice, and sports beverages will likely leave unwanted sugars in your mouth. You must know that bacteria in your mouth ingest sugar to form acids attached to your enamel. It’s a convenient dental tip to dilute any acid in your mouth.
Water has no sugar. Therefore, it will wash away food, leaving nothing for the bacteria to feed on. Additionally, the fluoride in water will coat your teeth, creating an acid-defensive enamel and reversing tooth decay.
Smile
All Convenient dental care tips aim to give you a beautiful smile – so flash that smile. Additionally, consider visiting a plastic surgeon for oral and maxillofacial surgery for a more aesthetic smile. Also, they’ll give you options to improve your facial features and still enhance your smile.
An oral and maxillofacial surgery will help you with any jaw misalignment. For this reason, the surgery will help to improve the aesthetics, function, and alignment of your jaws and teeth. The procedure will help you attain a more balanced facial appearance, better oral health, and a beautiful smile.
If you’re missing a tooth affecting your smile, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon will help you with a dental implant procedure. The artificial tooth will improve your oral function and restore your smile.
Your smile is infectious; don’t let oral diseases stop you from smiling. Nowadays, there are many convenient dental options to improve your oral health and keep your smile beautiful. To learn more about oral health, please check our website, which is only a click away.