Mouthwash is often thought of as a quick and easy way to make and keep breath clean and fresh. But it’s benefits extend far beyond that, offering excellent assistance for your dental health.
How Important is Mouthwash for Oral Health?
At Caring 4 Smiles your dental team knows that mouthwash is important indeed. Mouthwash keeps teeth and gums healthy. Discuss mouthwash use with your dentist, who can guide you toward the type of mouthwash that’s best for you, one designed to treat any specific needs or conditions. Mouthwash isn’t always recommended for use by young children. But, with your dentist’s recommendation, using mouthwash is a terrific tool to maintain your healthy, beautiful smile.
So, just how important is mouthwash for good, preventive dental care? Let’s take a closer look.
Mouthwash Will Reduce Bacteria Bad for Your Oral Health
With over 7,000 types of bacteria living and thriving in the human mouth, billions of bacteria are found in your mouth at any time. While most of that bacteria can’t harm you, and may actually play a role in maintaining your oral health, some bacteria are bad.
When bad bacteria start to outnumber good bacteria, poor dental health can be the outcome. It can cause issues such as tooth decay as well as gum disease like gingivitis and periodontitis.
But there’s good news. Mouthwash helps you maintain excellent oral health by washing away most of the bad bacteria in your mouth, while useful bacteria remains intact.
Mouthwash Containing Fluoride Helps to Prevent Cavities
Mouthwash with fluoride can provide support in the prevention of cavities. At Caring 4 Smiles, our dental team knows that along with twice-a-day flossing and brushing, as well as regular dental appointments, mouthwash plays an important part in stopping cavities before they start.
Mouthwash with fluoride can place that fluoride directly on the surface of your teeth, strengthening them and preventing microscopic amounts of decay from growing and spreading. Of course, check with your dentist about how what frequency is best for you to use mouthwash, as well as the best type of mouthwash for your needs.
Mouthwash Helps Maintain Healthy Gums
Along with preventing tooth decay, mouthwash can help you sustain healthy gums. Bacteria can build up in your gums, leading to red, swollen, painful, and infected gums. When a gum infection is mild, gingivitis occurs.
Symptoms can include tender gums, receding gums, easily bleeding or swollen gums, dark red colored gums, and even bad breath. Without early treatment, you can develop periodontitis. Periodontitis is a much more severe gum disease, that can put you at risk for tooth and bone loss, too. But gingivitis can be effectively treated and reversed if it’s caught early. Mouthwash is an excellent tool to help you avoid gingivitis and prevent the occurrence of severe gum disease.
Mouthwash Helps Prevent the Formation of Plaque
Plaque can easily build up on your teeth. This sticky type of bacteria creates acids after you eat or drink. These acids can eat away at tooth enamel. The bacteria caused by plaque can even end up embedded beneath your gum line, which leads to gum inflammation and infection. Untreated, excessive plaque may also lead to bone loss. But once again, mouthwash, along with receiving regular dental cleanings from your dental team at Caring 4 Smiles, helps remove plaque and keeps your mouth healthy.
Mouthwash Can Assist with Healing Mouth Ulcers
Another way mouthwash can help with your dental care is by helping with the healing of painful mouth ulcers or canker sores. Also known as mouth sores or aphthous ulcers, you can soothe the pain they cause with mouthwash. Some of the ingredients in mouthwash are soothing; and they can also help prevent an infection from getting worse, washing away the bad bacteria which may be thriving in that ulcer.
Mouthwash Helps Remove Teeth Stains
Yellow or stained teeth? Your dental team can help, and so can mouthwash. Ask your dentist to recommend a mouthwash that contains a whitening agent or can help reduce teeth stains. Although mouthwash won’t whiten your teeth as well as your dentist can with the professional teeth whitening at Caring 4 Smiles, it can help reduce stain appearance.
Maintain Your Healthy Teeth and Gums at Caring 4 Smiles
By now you probably know the answer to this question: how important is mouthwash? It’s very important and helpful for maintaining healthy teeth and gums. But before you add mouthwash, or begin any new oral hygiene routine, consult your dentist.
Schedule an appointment today with our top-rated, skilled dentists at Caring 4 Smiles in Auckland. We’re always happy to answer your questions. Our dentists are ready to discuss the best products to use for healthy and attractive teeth. Reach out today to learn more, schedule preventative care, treatment for common gum and teeth issues, or cosmetic dentistry.