Brushing and flossing at home are the two most important ways to keep your teeth and gums healthy. Coupled with this daily routine you should also visit us for your dental examinations and your oral hygiene visit.
Brushing- You should brush your teeth for at least two minutes twice a day. An effective oral hygiene routine keeps your teeth clean, breath fresh and contributes to the prevention of gum disease.
- Select a soft-bristled toothbrush with a small head so you can access hard to reach places and your back teeth
- Hold your brush at a 45° angle where your teeth and gum meet. Gently brush from the gum-line to the chewing surface in short strokes. Brushing too vigorously can lead to receding gums, tooth sensitivity, and over time loose teeth
- With a short sweeping action, clean the chewing surfaces of your teeth, by tipping the bristles you can get into the pits and crevices of your back molars
- Hold your brush almost vertically and use a forward and back motion to clean the inside surfaces of your top and bottom front teeth and gums
- Bacteria cause bad breath, so brush your tongue and roof of your mouth. Use a forward-sweeping motion from back to front; it may take a little time to get used to, but it is an important part of total oral cleaning
Flossing- First don’t use floss!! Buy dental ribbon or tape. Floss is too thin. It’s like fishing line and if you use it incorrectly you can cut your gums. So, tape or ribbon is the way forward.
Get a long piece – don’t be tight! – and wrap it around your middle fingers. This allows you to use your index fingers to control the tape without cutting off the circulation to them.
When you look at your gums there is a triangle of gum between the teeth. However, imagine it not as a triangle but a pyramid. You need to wrap the tape around one of the teeth (wrap around both back and front) and slide the tape under the gum along one side of the pyramid. The first time you do this it will feel odd! DO NOT WORRY IF THE GUMS BLEED to start with. It will bleed because there are bugs there causing inflammation, the more you use the tape the less it will bleed. It may also have a smell the first time you do it. The bugs that cause gum disease live without oxygen and small very similar to the bugs in a septic tank! This is the main cause of BAD BREATH!!
You are supposed to do this once a day – not many people do! We would prefer you to use at least a couple of time a week all the time rather than every day for a month and then nothing for a month.
