Most of us can find areas to improve with our daily dental hygiene, and there’s no better time to begin making those changes than today. We at Pickett Family Dental hope at the very least you’re already brushing your teeth daily with a fluoride toothpaste. But proper dental care includes more than those two minutes a day. Yes, we said two minutes per teeth brushing, and many toothbrushes now come with built in timers to help you brush for the full time. So, to celebrate with new focus and effort, we’ve put together a list of to-do’s to add to your dental hygiene toolkit.
What You Can Do To Improve Your Dental Hygiene
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- Brush 2-3 times daily, preferably directly after finishing meals. Be sure to brush the front, back, and tops of your teeth as well as your gums and tongue where bacteria thrive. By brushing thoroughly through small sections of your teeth for 10-12 seconds each, the two minutes of brushing will seem shorter.
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- Floss twice a day at night in order to ensure that food doesn’t sit inbetween your gums throughout the entire night while you’re sleeping. It’s a great way to prevent plaque from building up and hardening into tartar. Take extra care to floss between the teeth and gums, especially in the back of your mouth between molars.
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- Anti-microbial mouthwash is another great tool for preventing bacteria. While it has been common for decades to use mouthwash that contains alcohol for it’s cleansing properties, alcohol has a drying effect can create a breeding ground for bacteria afterwards. That’s why we recommend non-alcoholic mouthwash that keeps the mouth salivating and able to continue its own self-cleaning and bacteria prevention. We don’t want to get in the way of the human body of taking care of itself.
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- Chewing sugar-free gum can be another method of keeping the salivary glands running to improve acid removal and bacterial debris.
Maintaining lifelong dental hygiene on a daily basis through brushing, flossing, using mouthwash, chewing gum, and of course eating a healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables will help you keep a healthy smile with a mouthful of pearly whites. This October, look through this list and make the changes you need to improve your oral health and prevent tooth decay and a variety of other oral-related diseases. The health of your smile is in your hands and our family at Pickett Family Dental is here to support you along the way!
