Healthy Dental Awareness
April 30, 2010By taking good care of your dental needs, your teeth will last a lifetime.Good dental hygiene includes cleaning your teeth, gums and tongue properly and seeing your dentist at least twice a year. Taking care of your teeth helps prevent tooth decay and gum disease, the main causes of tooth loss.
Known more commonly as cavities, tooth decay is the result of the bacteria which lives inside plaque. A slightly sticky and white coating is continuously wrapping its way around your teeth.This coating naturally forms due to the mixture of bacteria which lives inside your mouth along with bits of food as well as your saliva.When you eat or drink starchy or sugary foods, the bacteria in plaque produce acids that dissolve tooth enamel, the hard outer coating on teeth. To get a better understanding of dentists in sydney, visit their website.
If you are continuously exposed to plaque, your enamel can fail, which leads to a cavity.Allowing the plaque to build up in your mouth can also result in gum disease.When plaque is not removed by thorough daily brushing and cleaning between teeth, it eventually hardens into tartar chat collects at the gum line. Gum tissue may become swollen or bleed when brushed a sign of gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease.
Eventually, gingivitis will continue until it develops into Periodontitis, which eats away at the connective tissues in your teeth and forms pockets of bacteria.Left untreated, periodontitis will ravish the gums, connective tissue and jaw bone. The impact of that damage is that your teeth can fall out.
To control the plaque problems, be sure to use excellent oral care yourself as well as having regular cleaning from your dentist.The best way to brush your teeth is by keeping the toothbrush at a bit of angle to your teeth and using small back-and-forth motions as your brush.All surfaces of the teeth must be cleaned: outer, inner, chewing surfaces. The entire process should take a minimum of two minutes. When finished, also brush your tongue, but not too hard.Your teeth will be free from bacteria and bad breath.Brushing after every time you eat would be great, but at least twice a day is good for the majority of people.Here is further info on sydney australia dentists.
Experts agree that your toothbrush should have soft bristles.Your toothbrush should be replaced every three months or so, but you may want to do it sooner if the bristles are showing excessive wear.The use of an electric toothbrush does not replace flossing. But in order to get rid of plaque completely where the gums meet the teeth you have to not only brush everyday, but you also need to use floss or another tool that will get between the teeth on a regular basis.
The following are expert’s advise to floss with maximum efficiency. The first step is to ease a long strand of floss between two teeth. Second, raise and lower the floss a few times, making sure that the floss curves along the tooth at the gum line.Starting with a long strand, you can then move to a clean section of floss as you move from tooth to tooth, remembering to floss the back of the last tooth.
If your teeth are close together, waxed floss will slide much easier between the teeth.Seek further help or the use of a floss holder if you are having problems.Soreness in the gums or slight bleeding of the gums may occur for the first few days you use dental floss. This is normal as your gums adjust. If the condition persists, consult your dentist. Besides the need for brushing and flossing, if your diet consists of sweets or sugary drinks between regular meals you’re in danger of creating cavities from the increased time your teeth are being exposed to more acid.Also, you can eat some foods that can keep tooth decay bay.Following certain meals with mature cheese may stabilize acerbic activity that attacks enamel.
Some fruits such as apples or even pears which have a large amount of water in them, can help you produce more saliva and rinse away sugar.Sugar-free gum also generates additional spit, which will help remove the bacteria that leads to decay.Increasing your calicum intake through your diet or by swallowing supplements helps protect your teeth. Eat more yogurt and green, leafy vegetables, which are high in calcium, or drink more milk.It’s crucial to use toothpaste with fluoride, which safeguards against cavities.
Fluoride mouthwash or a fluoride application done by a dental professional are ways to get fluoride if there is not any in your water.It is advisable to have a dental checkup twice a year if you have good teeth.Aside from those routine visits, contact your dentist if you experience bleeding gums, mouth pain or if you notice alterations in your bite. Robust teeth can last a lifetime when you take care of them and visit the dentist frequently.