Top Ten Tips to Take Care of Your Teeth at Home!

Introduction

Let's be honest, keeping our teeth healthy can feel like a chore, right? Healthy teeth are often the starting point for overall health – after all, those veggies aren’t going to chew themselves! So, if you’re looking to keep fit and healthy, it’s very important to ensure that “nature’s food processors” are in tip-top shape! While we recommend visiting your dentist at least a couple times per year to make sure things are in working order, the other - approximately - 363 days are in your hands. In fact, these daily practices are just as, if not more, important than your regular dental visits. Here are some tips to make sure your care at home is on point! So let's run through some simple tips to answer the question: "How do I take care of my teeth at home?"

Tip 1: Brush Twice a Day (the Right Way)

Of course, the first item on the list is to look at brushing. We recommend brushing twice a day – once in the morning, and once at night. In both instances, it is better to brush after having eaten – you don’t want to leave behind an extra meal for bacteria to feast on! If you’re in a time crunch and can only brush once a day, we recommend sticking to nighttime brushing before bed, as you can clean up the mess made during the day. Also, while just scrubbing and rinsing might make your teeth feel fresh, that’s not the best way to go about it. Just like vacuuming or sweeping, you don’t want to leave any dust (or in this case, plaque) behind! The technique we typically recommend is called the Bass Technique—and it has nothing to do with fishing (aside from “fishing” for plaque). Here is a quick video showing this technique. The idea is to angle the brush about 45 degrees towards your gum line, and brush with a circular motion. You would do this on both the outside and inside surfaces of the teeth. And don’t forget brushing the tops of your teeth! The total time you should expect to take while brushing is 2 minutes. Now, we’ve covered brushing on the insides of your teeth, the outsides, and the tops. But we are missing one more critical region, and that is in between your teeth! Unfortunately, a toothbrush cannot reach this region. But our dental toolkit is vast, and there are things you can do at home to help fight bacteria from setting up shop in between your teeth.

Tip 2: Don’t Forget to Floss

One of these important tools is dental floss! Now with the toothbrush and floss teaming up, those pesky tooth-eating bacteria have nowhere to hide, and will have no choice but to pack up and leave! But how do you floss? Here is a quick instructional video. In short, make sure to wrap it securely around your middle finger on each hand, go in between each tooth, and make sure to hug each tooth with the floss!

Wikipedia, used with permission under Creative Commons license.

[image]. Now, sometimes flossing isn’t the most comfortable or realistic for everyone – but the dental toolkit is diverse. There is almost always an alternative! Some examples include floss sticks, water flossers (e.g. WaterPik), or proxa brushes. The idea for all of these is the same – they catch the areas in between teeth that your toothbrush misses. But if you’re ever unsure if something could work as an alternative, don’t hesitate to ask us when we see you!

Tip 3: What’s the Deal with Mouthwash?

This is an interesting one. Does mouthwash make a difference? The answer is: it depends. The bog-standard Listerine you can find at your local pharmacy may provide the feeling of fresh breath so you can confidently go about your day. But tooth-wise, the benefits aren’t as notable. However, there are many different kinds of mouthwash, and depending on what they contain, there can be direct benefits to your oral health.

Here are some examples:

• Therabreath Healthy Smiles – contains Fluoride and Xylitol, which both help reduce the risk of tooth decay

• Listerine Clinical solutions – contains fluoride, similar to above

• Peridex (prescription only) – contains chlorhexidine, which has antibacterial properties. This can really help if you have inflamed gums. Typically, this is only available with a prescription, so your dentist may recommend it if it is indicated.

Which one is right for you? Don’t hesitate to ask us if you’re unsure!

Tip 4: Limit Sugary Foods

As we described in a previous post, ACID is the real culprit of tooth breakdown and decay. How does acid get there? For the most part, once sugary food makes its way to your teeth, bacteria that hang around there (they also LOVE sugar) metabolize it and release acid. This acid is what breaks down your enamel, and leads to decay. But this doesn’t mean you have to cut out sugary foods altogether – let’s face it, everyone loves a good carrot cake or sticky toffee pudding. However, limiting them is a good idea. How should you limit them? Research has shown that a sustained acidic environment in the mouth is worse than an environment that bounces between acidic and neutral. This means it is better to enjoy your sweets one time rather than throughout the day. Saliva, one of your mouth’s best defenders, needs time to clear out the acid. And it does! Just don’t pile more work on your saliva’s to-do list by eating sweets throughout the day. Otherwise, your mouth will have an acidic environment for a longer period, putting you at a higher risk for tooth decay.

Tip 5: Stay Hydrated!

While your saliva is an excellent defense system that can help ward off harmful acid and bacteria, even it could use some help from good old water. If you wash down those tasty treats with some water right away, then those pesky sugar-loving bacteria have less opportunity to harm your teeth! And as a bonus, many local sources (ie tap water) are perfectly safe to drink, and they contain fluoride! We cover flouride safety here, if you want to dig deeper.

Tip 6: Eat a Tooth-Friendly Diet

One nutrient you’ve heard of is best friends with your bones – and that is calcium! It is a critical component of enamel, so to help your teeth remain strong, make sure to eat foods high in calcium. There is another nutrient that is considered a “tag-team” partner of calcium, and that is Phosphorus! Phosphorus is another component of enamel, just like calcium. Another benefit of phosphorus is that it helps your body take up more calcium from your diet, which is a win-win situation!

Here are some foods high in these nutrients:

• Calcium: milk, yogurt, cheese, leafy greens (e.g. broccoli, spinach), almonds

• Phosphorus: milk, yogurt, cheese, almonds, salmon, eggs, lentils, beans, oats

In addition to keeping your teeth clean, you can make them stronger by including some of these foods in your diet!

Tip 7: Avoid Tobacco Products

So far, we have only talked about our tool kit to help keep our teeth healthy and strong. Now, we have to mention one of the big villains in dentistry – tobacco. There is a long list of negatives to overall health when it comes to tobacco use, and it does its fair share of harm to our teeth as well. The major source of harm is persistent gum disease, also known as periodontitis. Before we get into a couple of details, it is important to know about the periodontium (easy way to remember – “peri” = around, “dontium” = tooth). Essentially, this refers to tooth structure (specifically, your roots) and the stuff attached to them. This includes a periodontal ligament, your bone, and your gums. The periodontium makes sure your teeth stay where they are and don’t float away from you!

Smoking and other forms of tobacco use harm your immune system. Mouth-wise, this means that it is tough for your gums and teeth to fight off the pesky bacteria. Unfortunately, this means your gums will stay inflamed.Simply put, the body reacts to inflammation by attempting to move the periodontium (bone, gums, and ligament) away from the source of irritation. Unfortunately, this means your gums (which are attached to bone) move away from your teeth! After years and years of smoking, some people end up losing many teeth, because the gums move so far away that the teeth no longer have any support.

The good news is, if you’re currently a smoker and are considering quitting, the body is a remarkable healing machine. While the gums can’t grow back, after 9-12 years of a smoke-free lifestyle, the gums will look like those of someone who has never smoked at all! Please ask us if you need any help in quitting smoking – there are many resources at our disposal to help in this effort.

The other negative effect of tobacco use is an increase in the risk of oral cancer. Tobacco, especially in the form of cigarettes, has many cancer-causing agents (e.g. carcinogens in the tar). These coming in contact with the mouth could lead to oral cancer one day. It is important to attend your yearly checkup, as your dentist and dental hygienist do check all the tissues in your mouth to make sure nothing sneaks up on you!

Tip 8: Replace your toothbrush (or electric brush tip) regularly

If you notice your toothbrush is looking frayed, it might not be doing the best job of cleaning your teeth. We recommend replacing your brush every 3-4 months so it can continue to do a good job of keeping your teeth clean!

Tip 9: Wear a night guard if needed

While our teeth do a great job of mashing up our food for us, we don’t want them to do that to each other! If you notice you grind your teeth a fair bit, or wake up with jaw soreness, it may be worth asking your dentist about a nightguard to protect your teeth from each other. A nightguard is a plastic appliance that is custom designed to fit your teeth, and it keeps your teeth apart from each other.

Most clenching or grinding (aka bruxism) occurs at nighttime during our sleep, so we may not even know if we do it! However, our teeth tell lots of stories, and the dentist will be able read these stories during the checkup and see if a nightguard will help!

Tip 10: Schedule Regular Dental Checkups

And of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a shoutout to the awesome dental teams out there! The checkup and cleaning are important tools to make sure your teeth are in tip top shape. While you can maintain a great diet and have excellent home care, sometimes you could miss a spot! For most patients, we recommend a checkup once a year, and a cleaning every 3-6 months. One big advantage is early detection – a small, suspicious cavity is way easier (and cheaper!) to deal with than one that has taken years to grow. These small suspicious spots are often picked up during regular dental checkups.

So, if it’s been a while since you’ve had a cleaning and a checkup, you have a nagging sore spot bugging you, or if you’re on top of it and feel like it’s “that time of year”, don’t hesitate to give us a call! Our phone number is 780-440-4800, or you can book online.

"Is that all I need to take care of my teeth at home?" - Putting it all together

Remember when we asked if keeping your teeth healthy feels like a chore? Well, maybe it's less of a chore and more of a superpower you can unlock! By incorporating these simple steps into your routine, you're not just cleaning teeth; you're boosting your overall health and well-being. Pretty powerful stuff!