No matter your profession, a healthy, dazzling smile makes a great first impression. When you’re nervous about bad breath or tooth decay, you may spend your life hiding your smile or feeling self-conscious. Luckily, with a few simple steps, you can give your teeth the care they deserve.
- Brush twice a day for two minutes
This will help to keep your teeth in top form. Brushing your teeth and tongue with a soft-bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste cleans food and bacteria from your mouth. It’s important to brush teeth every day, but you don’t want to overdo it.
If you brush your teeth more than twice a day, or for longer than four minutes total, you could be wearing down your enamel. When tooth enamel fades away, it exposes a sensitive layer of dentin. The majority of adults in Australia have experienced sensitive teeth at some point in their life, and over brushing can contribute to this.
- A morning brush fights bad breath all day
The human mouth is 37°C. This warm and wet environment causes plaque and tartar to build up on teeth. Tartar can irritate gums and lead to gum disease and bad breath, also called halitosis. The good news is that brushing in the morning will help to remove the plaque that’s built up throughout the night and keep your mouth feeling fresh.
- Protect teeth with a dental mouth guard
There’s lots of situations where a dental mouth guard is useful to help protect teeth. If you play contact sports, a mouthguard should be a basic part of your protective equipment. But, did you know that some people grind their teeth in their sleep? The next time you’re at the dentist, ask your dentist if they notice any wear and tear to your teeth. You may need a custom guard to protect your teeth from the effects of grinding. This guard is made different from the sports mouthguards.
- Don’t brush too hard!
YES! It is possible to brush too hard. If the bristles of your toothbrush look bent and flattened out, you’re applying too much pressure.
And you should only ever be using a soft or an ultra-soft toothbrush. Never should you use a medium or hard bristled toothbrush. Electric toothbrushes all come with soft bristles.
- Floss every day
Did you know that if you don’t floss, you are missing 35% of your teeth surfaces? Toothbrush bristles are too thick to get between the teeth, where food often gets lodges. Hence, we recommend that you floss once a day, preferably at night. This will help prevent cavities from developing between the teeth and gum disease.
- What time should you brush or floss?
As long as you brush and floss every day, it doesn’t matter what time of day you do it. We recommend once in the morning and once before bed. You can floss before or after brushing – it’s totally up to you!
- Stay away from sugary drinks
Tooth decay is caused by bacteria in the mouth using sugar from foods and drinks to produce acids that dissolve and damage the teeth. While drinks like Coke and Fanta and lemonade are obviously full of sugar, a high sugar content can also be found in fruit juice, energy drinks and sports drinks.
Sugar-free drinks like Coke Zero and Pepsi Max are also bad for teeth even though they contain no sugar. The problem is they are very acidic and acid and tooth decay go hand in hand.
We only live once so its important to enjoy life; but be smart about your food and drink choices. Do not have them all day and when you do indulge in these drinks, swish some water around your mouth afterwards.
Want more tips to look after your oral health? Book an appointment with one of our dentists online.
