Advanced Dental Hygiene: Top Tips for a Healthy Smile
Maintaining a your dental hygiene takes work, but the effort is worth the reward. According to a UWA article, smiling makes a person more approachable, can help you have better relationships, and can make you more productive at work. It can also help relieve stress and even increase your lifespan.
The path to a beautiful and healthy smile involves better eating, oral health, and lifestyle habits. Let’s explore some advanced dental hygiene tips for healthy teeth and gums.
Practical Dental Hygiene Tips for a Beautiful, Healthy Smile
- Reevaluate Your Diet
Maintaining a healthy diet is crucial for overall and dental health. Ensure your diet includes everything you need for a healthy smile, such as dairy products, crunchy fruits and vegetables, leafy greens, and plenty of water to help rinse debris from the mouth, maintain a neutral pH balance, and ward off dry mouth.
- Avoid Tooth-Staining Foods
Certain foods and beverages are known to cause tooth discoloration and staining. Common culprits include tea, coffee, red wine, fruit juices, tomato-based sauces, berries, and balsamic vinegar. If you must consume these items, rinse your mouth with water afterward to help prevent staining.
Consider teeth whitening for individuals with preexisting tooth stains. Take-home teeth whitening trays offer a safe, effective, and convenient option for achieving a brighter smile.
- Chew Sugarless Gum
As the name suggests, sugarless gum is a gum that doesn’t have any sugar in it. Instead, it contains artificial sweeteners that do not contribute to tooth decay. Chewing sugarless gum can help protect your teeth and gums in between meals by increasing saliva production.
More saliva helps reduce the impact of acid attacks on the teeth, which can damage tooth enamel and cause dental erosion. Chewing sugarless gum can also help with dry mouth and eliminate bad breath.
- Limit Sugar Intake
Sugar is added to many foods, even those you wouldn’t expect. Ketchup, salad dressings, barbecue sauce, and even granola can have a lot of added sugars that can contribute to tooth decay. When consumed too frequently, sugar can combine with the bacteria in your mouth, creating harmful acids that attack your teeth. The more sugar you consume, the more damage it harms oral health.
- Consider Scaling and Root Planning
While a standard dental cleaning performed approximately every six months is often enough to maintain a healthy smile, some patients may require a deep cleaning. Scaling and root planing are also known as scaling and are often recommended for patients with periodontal bone loss or bacterial buildup under their gumline.
During the procedure, your Clermont dentist will remove the plaque and tartar above and below the gumline and smooth out your tooth roots to promote the reattachment of the teeth to the gums.
- Seal Out Tooth Decay
It can be difficult to remove food debris and bacteria that can accumulate in the small crevices of the teeth. Sealants are often recommended to fill these recesses before cavity-causing bacteria can damage the teeth. Sealants are generally recommended to children as they are usually unable to brush as effectively, resulting in an increased risk of tooth decay.
- Make Lifestyle Changes
If your dental health is suffering, consider making some significant lifestyle changes. Choosing water over soda or juice, limiting sugary snacks, brushing often, and using a fluoride mouth rinse can help enhance your dental health. You’ll also want to stop bad habits that could damage your teeth or gums, such as using tobacco products, using your teeth as tools, biting, or clenching or grinding your teeth.
Hancock Can Help You Maintain Your Dental Health Care
Maintaining healthy teeth and gums can help you feel confident as you smile and avoid common oral health problems, such as tooth decay and gum disease. At Hancock Village Dental, we provide family dental care to help patients maintain healthy, beautiful teeth. Contact our Clermont family dentistry for an appointment for a whiter, brighter smile.
