Preventative Measures You Can Take for Teeth Health
Our Dentist Vero Beach team loves seeing all of our patients and are passionate about helping each one enjoy a healthier smile they are proud to show off. But while we do offer a variety of treatments and surgery options, such as dental implants Vero Beach, that will help repair diseased and damaged teeth and gums, we don’t want to have to. We want our clients to come into their Vero Beach dental annual check-up visit with healthy gums and teeth they are proud of. The following is a look at the best preventative measures we know of that you can take to stop an oral disaster in its tracks and enjoy smiling with healthy teeth every day, all year long.
1. Brush Teeth Twice a Day, at the Right Time of Day
Brushing your teeth is the single best thing you can do to prevent cavities, gum disease, and other oral health problems. But for best effects, you need to do more than just grab your toothbrush two times a day. You need to make sure your teeth brushing habits are well-timed and done well.
The American Dental Association recommends that people brush their teeth for at least two minutes. Two minutes of solid back and forth motion on your top and bottom rows of teeth should be sufficient for removing most of any cling-on bacteria, plaque, and other debris.
Additionally, for the absolute most effective teeth cleaning properties, look at not only how often and for how long you brush, but also when you brush. Brushing your teeth after your evening meal and any drinks you have as well as after your morning breakfast and orange juice is optimum. Holding off and brushing your teeth after these meal times works best because then you are effectively brushing away any left-over food bits, carbs, and sugar just after they have become lodged in your teeth and gums.
2. Floss Teeth & Rinse Twice a Day.
For the healthiest teeth, it isn’t enough to just brush them. You need to go the step further and also floss and rinse with fluoride twice a day. These two extra steps are necessary as brushing won’t be able to get quite all of the pieces of food and sugar that are stuck in between teeth and gums.
Flossing helps to remove plaque that has become truly lodged between your teeth rinsing with fluoride further washes away any residual gunk in your teeth and helps to strengthen tooth enamel. That’s right, fluoride is known as the mineral that is “nature’s cavity fighter” thanks to its ability to keep teeth strong. Your dentist in Vero Beach FL can help you choose the best brand of mouthwash for you and your goals.
3. Drink More Water.
Water is truly an almost magical force. Every living thing is made mostly of water, and it is what largely keeps us on living. It is almost impossible to drink too much water, and rather the much more common problem is that people drink far too little water. Drinking more glasses of water every day can help your body do all sorts of things, like boost your energy, increase your weight loss, enhance the body’s digestion process, and so much more… including help with your oral health.
Drinking water can help improve your smile and keep your teeth healthy in three important ways. First, when you drink your local tap water, it will come ladened with fluoride in it. That’s thanks to a 2015 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommendation to all municipalities to put a certain amount of the mineral fluoride into the drinking supply in order to help strengthen the teeth of every resident.
Drinking water after every meal, whether it is tap water or bottled, also helps to naturally remove carbs and sugars that have been leftover in your mouth without leaving behind its own carbs and sugars (such as drinking a glass of lemonade or other sugary drink might). Finally, in addition to removing excess debris, water helps to prevent the condition known as dry mouth. Dry mouth is when a person’s mouth lacks the appropriate amount of saliva. Saliva is essential to your mouth naturally keeping your teeth clean and healthy; when you don’t have enough saliva, you risk cavities and gingivitis.
Schedule Your Dental Appointment Today
These are our top three preventive measures to keep a healthy smile. But they certainly aren’t all you can do for good oral health. Contact our periodontist Vero Beach FL office to learn more and to schedule your annual tooth cleaning!