The last year has made it a little more difficult to get into our regular appointments for a variety of things. Even if your dentist or doctor is still open, you might not feel comfortable going in for non-emergencies just yet.
When it comes to your teeth, those regular cleanings and check-ups are extremely important, though. Just because you’re not able to see your dentist doesn’t mean you can’t be keeping your teeth in excellent shape.
We’re going to look at a few things you can do to keep up with your teeth health until you can make it back to the dentist.
Let’s get started:
Teeth Health: How to Maintain Your Oral Hygiene at Home
When you go in for a cleaning, your dentist is basically resetting the system. They’re using their tools and expertise to get your mouth into as good of a condition as it can be before you leave.
That means scrubbing off tartar and hardened plaque that’s accumulated, checking to see if anything looks off, and brightening your smile up here and there.
We need these check-ups because oral issues develop gradually, and we don’t always know they’re happening. Issues like gum disease occur when plaque colonies harden, turn to tartar, and work their way down to erode our tissue and damage our teeth and gums.
While we’re at home and away from the dentist, our oral hygiene routine is the most important thing we can focus on to keep those issues at bay.
Rigid Oral Hygiene
If you’re not seeing your dentist, it’s important that you hold yourself true to your oral routine.
The primary thing we have is brushing. Brushing your teeth seems like a simple thing to do every day, but there are a lot of ways that people get the process wrong and open themselves up to gum disease.
Make sure you’re brushing for a full two minutes. Also, make sure that you’re scrubbing firmly but not too hard and you reach each tooth as well as the base of the gums.
You must also be flossing each tooth nightly. We can’t emphasize this enough, considering that damaging tartar makes an easy home of the unflossed tooth. Flossing is the best way to disrupt the plaque that manages to get into the dark corners of our mouths.
You can floss in the morning as well, although the most important time to floss is before bedtime, considering that plaque is undisturbed at night when our mouths fall open and there isn’t as much saliva to combat those germs.
Finally, you should be using mouthwash at night as well. A coating of mouthwash before bed gives your mouth a good defence against plaque. If possible, try not to wash out the mouthwash with water or other liquids before going to sleep.
This allows it to keep working throughout the beginning of the night.
Is It Time to Come In for A Checkup?
Your teeth health is an important factor in the health of your entire body. We’re here to help you keep things in check when the time comes.
If you’re feeling any aches or have the sneaking suspicion that something is wrong with your oral health, give us a call. Contact us for resources, information, and more ideas on how to keep your pearly whites in great condition.