Are you brushing your teeth properly?
Isn’t feels right ,when your teeth cleaned professionally at dental clinic feels like a dental health reset. Your teeth get scrubbed, scraped, and polished to perfection. Whether they stay that way is up to you. What happens at home can be very different from what happens at the dental clinic. But don't grit your teeth over it. Check out these three tips to boost your tooth-brushing game and improve your health in the process.
1. Understand the incentives.
Every time you eat or drink something, bits of food or residue can stick to your teeth and gums. The debris and its bacteria turn into a sticky film called plaque. If it's left on the teeth too long, it calcifies. The hardened plaque is called calculus, and it can't be removed with a toothbrush.
Inside the calculus are bacteria that release acids that cause cavities, break down your enamel, and tunnel inside the tooth toward the nerve and jaw bone, causing infection if left untreated. From there, bacteria can travel to other parts of your body, including the brain, heart, and lungs.
2. Select a good toothbrush.
A variety of toothbrush options range from simple plastic sticks with bristles to electric toothbrushes. It's not the toothbrush that matters, it's the technique. You might have a brush that does all the work for you. But if you don't have an excellent brushing technique, you'll miss plaque, even with an electric toothbrush.
- Get a toothbrush you like and will use regularly.
- Choose bristles based on your gum health and be gentle to you teeth.
- Replace your toothbrush every few months. It's time for a new brush if the bristles are splayed out and no longer upright, or your teeth don't feel clean after you brush.
3. Use the right brushing technique.
Brush with this method twice daily and flossing before or afterward each time:
- Brush with a fluoride toothpaste for two minutes. Divide the time among the upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right teeth — 30 seconds per section.
- Angle the brush. The bristles should be aimed toward the gums where they meet the teeth, a junction where plaque and calculus collect. You don't want the bristles to be perpendicular to your teeth, at a 90-degree angle, but angled, at a 45-degree angle.
- Make circles with the bristles. Rotate the bristles around and around in a gentle sweeping motion to help grab debris at the gum line.
- Be gentle. If you press too hard while brushing, you'll irritate and possibly injure your gums. Brush your tongue, too. It collects loads of bacteria that need to be brushed away.
- Rinse your mouth and your brush. Wash away all traces of toothpaste and food debris.
- Take a peek at your gums. When you finish brushing, pull your lips away from your teeth to see if you left food particles around your teeth. Your gums should not look red or swollen.
A good brush and a bit of technique go surprisingly far to boosting your smile and health.
