When you’re going about your day-to-day, it’s important to smile with confidence. Unfortunately, if you don’t give your smile the care that it deserves, it will stand out for all the wrong reasons. It is widely understood in general dentistry circles that you don’t need dental veneers to have your teeth looking their best, you just need to look after them.
Proper dental treatment and routine is essential. Practicing good dental care is the best way to avoid stained teeth, decay, tooth extraction, or other oral health problems. Luckily for you, PureSmile have the top five tips and tricks to help you give your teeth what they need.
1) Use your toothbrush
You guessed it. Brushing twice a day is one of the first self-care rules you were taught when little. Often, parents don’t allow their children to go to bed before having brushed their teeth. And for good reason. Dentists recommend brushing to ensure that your teeth and gum line are clean. This is the first line of defence to remove plaque. However, there is more to it if you want your smile to be at its best.
Finding the right toothbrush can make a huge difference in your dental hygiene. Often, dentists will prefer you to use a toothbrush that has very fine bristles. This is so that you aren’t too rough on your gums or tooth enamel when cleaning. In addition, if the bristles are finer, you can get rid of that extra food residue and bacteria in those hard-to-reach places in between your teeth.
2) Floss for a healthy smile
We get it, no one likes to floss. It can be uncomfortable cleaning those hard-to-reach places. But if you want to really take care of your teeth, flossing is essential. Flossing does away with food residue that your toothbrush can easily miss. Flossing each day can reduce plaque, stimulate gums, reduce bad breath, and help lower inflammation areas.
3) Eat right
Your teeth are the first point of contact with the food and drink you digest. Making sure that you watch what you ingest is a strong defence against tooth decay, let alone your overall health. But what should you avoid? If you want to hold onto your pearly whites, dentists recommend you avoid having too many sugary drinks and foods. This could be soft drinks, chocolate, lollies, and ice-cream. Sugar can erode your teeth enamel, leaving the yellow nerve rich dentin of your teeth exposed. This can result in a dull or yellow look. So, keeping sugary treats to a minimum is worth it for a healthy set of teeth.
But it doesn’t just stop at sugar. Coffee and red wine are also effective at staining your pearly whites. Both drinks are highly acidic and have included tannins. This means that drinking a lot can damage your enamel, leaving your teeth vulnerable to stains. To help bring your teeth to their natural colour, you could drink your red wine or coffee with a straw and rinse your mouth with tap water or mouthwash after each beverage.
4) Get your share of oral health nutrients
Getting your share of calcium and vitamin D is also an essential defence for your healthy teeth. To help keep them looking their best, you could drink milk to build up your calcium levels. To get your healthy dose of vitamin D, you could spend some time in the sun. A healthy number of dairy products and nuts would also be worth adding into your diet for that additional boost of nutrients. This is also good for your general health.
5) Dental services
Making a habit out of seeing your dentist every six-months is one of the most important things you could do to maintain your oral health. An appropriately qualified health practitioner can offer you the dental care updates on how your teeth are going and whether you need to be doing more.
Going to the dentist can be scary, however its even scarier when it’s for a root canal, cavities or another surgical or invasive treatment that could have been prevented with good oral hygiene. Getting a general clean every six months is a great way to prevent long term issues from dental neglect and save you time from having to go to the dentist down the line.
