Keeping your teeth healthy is a lifetime project. You need to consistently clean them and make sure you keep a healthy diet that won’t damage your teeth.
Unfortunately, a lot of people aren’t proactive enough. There are an estimated 30% of Americans who don’t brush their teeth enough.
If you are trying to figure out how you can better take care of your teeth, then you’ve come to the right place.
Below are seven oral hygiene tips that will help you get a healthy smile.
1. Brush Properly
There is more to brushing your teeth than moving the toothbrush in your mouth. If you aren’t brushing correctly, then you aren’t keeping your mouth as clean as it can be.
The first thing you need to remember is you aren’t only brushing your teeth. Your gums are there too, and you need to take care of them as well.
When brushing, make sure the bristles on your toothbrush are making contact with your teeth and gums. When you are cleaning, use up and down, back and forth movements.
Once you finish with your whole gumline, move onto the top part of your teeth, and repeat the motions.
Always remember that bacteria exist in every part of your mouth. To make sure you are removing as much bacteria as possible, brush the top of your tongue and the roof of your mouth.
This practice will give you the best clean.
2. Floss Every Day
Most people don’t like to floss, especially when you don’t have healthy gums. It’s easy to end up with a mouth full of blood when you floss.
But if you want to strengthen your gums and keep them clean, then you need to make flossing a habit.
Brushing can only work so well. It does great at cleaning the surface of your teeth but cannot clean between your teeth as well.
This is where flossing comes into play. Flossing will get rid of the bacteria, food, and other substances that get stuck in the area between your teeth.
You don’t need to floss twice daily as you do with brushing, but do try and develop the habit of flossing once per day.
3. Try Mouthwash
It doesn’t matter how much you practice. You aren’t always going to be perfect when cleaning your mouth. There’s still a chance that there will be a spot that you looked over when brushing.
Supplementing your oral care with mouthwash can rectify this problem. There are several ways that it can help.
The first is fresh breath. If you can’t get a fresh scent from your toothpaste because you’re limited by your brand, then using mouthwash can give you that feeling of fresh breath. It also kills the bacteria associated with bad breath so that you won’t be stinking up the room anymore.
Mouthwash also helps reduce plaque. Although it can’t remove any plaque that is there already, it can remove particles that can cause plaque to develop.
4. Use a Tongue Scraper
The bristles on your toothbrush aren’t good at getting all the bacteria off your tongue. The bristles can give it a decent clean but aren’t good at covering the entire surface.
Some toothbrushes now come with ridges on the back of them that allow them to double as a tongue scraper. When you are finished brushing, use these ridges to scrape your tongue to get rid of more bacteria.
If your toothbrush doesn’t have these ridges, then replace it with a new brand. There are also dedicated tongue scrapers that do a great job.
They don’t cost much money, so consider adding one to your collection of dental equipment.
5. Don’t Eat Food Bad for Your Teeth
The start of great oral care starts with your cleaning routine, but you can make things a lot easier for yourself by watching what you eat.
Many foods are bad for your teeth. Food and drinks like soda, alcohol, bread, candy, and potato chips can all cause damage to your oral health.
Keep your diet full of fruits, vegetables, nuts, chicken, and cheese to help your smile. All of these have benefits for your dental health and won’t cause damage to your teeth.
If you need to drink soda or alcohol, then there are things you can do to prevent enamel damage. Try drinking through a straw. A straw will reduce the amount of exposure of these drinks for your teeth.
6. Keep Flouride in Your Mouth After Brushing
Flouride is good for your teeth. It helps build up the enamel on your teeth to keep them healthy. Most toothpaste contains a certain amount to make sure your teeth stay healthy.
A common practice when brushing your teeth is rinsing after you finish. This practice helps get the extra toothpaste out of your mouth.
But this also removes any fluoride from your teeth. Instead of rinsing, try removing the extra toothpaste and let the fluoride stay on your teeth. This enables the fluoride to keep doing its work.
7. Regularly Visit Your Dentist
Doing everything you need to do to protect your teeth isn’t an excuse to not schedule your regular dentist appointments. There is always the chance that there is a problem that you can’t see.
A dental health expert will give you a complete workup to find these problems. If you let issues go for too long, then they can cause more severe issues in the long run.
By keeping your dental health in check, you’re saving yourself potentially painful dental procedures and money down the road.
Make sure you learn more about how a dentist can help and schedule your next appointment as soon as you can.
Make Sure You Keep a Healthy Smile
It only takes a few minutes a day to keep your mouth clean. If you don’t want your dentist appointments to be full of bad news, make sure you do the work to maintain a healthy smile.
You won’t only look better, but feel better too.
Keeping healthy isn’t always easy. Head over to our blog for the latest health tips that you can use to live a healthier lifestyle.