Your smile is one of your most important features. People generally love individuals who smile a lot. Unfortunately, if your teeth are not that great, you may end up not wanting to smile a lot. This is why you need to ensure that you do everything you can to have great-looking teeth. Apart from looks, you also need your teeth to chew. So, how do you go about ensuring that you have the best teeth? Here are some tips to consider.
Avoid Eating Too Much Sugar
Apart from maintaining good oral hygiene and visiting the dentist regularly, you should also be careful when it comes to what you put in your mouth. Diet is a huge factor when it comes to dental care. The first thing you should remember is to drink lots of water and avoid eating too much sugar. Water remains the best beverage for your overall health. As a rule of thumb, you should also drink water after every meal. This can help remove sticky, acidic, and sugary food particles from your teeth.
Limit Acidic and Sugary Foods
When you eat a lot of sugar, it eventually gets converted into acid in your mouth. This is bad for your teeth. According to dentistry specialists, the acid caused by sugary foods erodes the enamel of your teeth, and that’s what leads to cavities. This is why you need to limit the number of acidic fruits, teas, and coffee that you consume.
Eat Crunchy Vegetables and Fruits
We all love ready-to-eat foods. However, as convenient as they are, they may not be something you want to overdo if you want great teeth. Instead, you should eat more fresh, crunchy produce. This not only comes with higher levels of fiber, but such foods are also great for your teeth. If you have kids you should, you should give them harder-to-eat and chew foods at a younger age. You should also avoid cutting foods into smaller pieces and giving them too many processed foods. The trick to getting great teeth is to keep them working.
Brush at Least Twice a Day
If you are looking to have great teeth, you should be prepared for a lifetime of care. Even if you already have nice-looking teeth, you should ensure that you take care of them every day so things can stay like that. Oral hygiene is a great way to keep problems away and to get rid of existing ones. The most common oral hygiene practice is brushing teeth. It’s no secret that general dentistry recommends that everyone should brush their teeth at least twice daily. Still, a lot of people forget to brush or only do it once.
Brush Your Teeth in the Morning and Before Bed
It’s easier to remember to brush your teeth in the morning, but what other time is perfect for brushing for the second time? You may want to consider brushing your teeth before you go to bed. Doing this will help you get rid of the germs and plaque that stick to your teeth during the day. Now that we have figured out the when it’s also important to find out how to brush properly. The way you brush your teeth is quite important. In fact, not brushing properly is almost as bad as never brushing at all. When you brush your teeth, you must take your time. Move the toothbrush gently in a circular motion so you can remove plaque. Brushing haphazardly won’t enable you to remove plaque, which ends up hardening into calculus. Once that happens, you will now need to visit the dental clinic.
Brush Your Tongue Too
Apart from brushing your teeth, did you know that you also need to brush your tongue? Bacteria and plaque can also accumulate on your tongue. This can lead to issues like bad mouth odor. Apart from that, your tongue comes into contact with your teeth a lot. If you brush your teeth and leave the tongue, bacteria will just be transferred from the tongue to the teeth, which defeats the whole purpose. This is why you should gently brush your tongue when you brush your teeth.
Use Toothpaste With Fluoride
You should also be mindful of the toothpaste you use. There are more important things to consider when choosing toothpaste than just flavor and whitening power. You should pick a toothpaste that contains fluoride. While there have been some concerns about how fluoride affects other areas of health, it remands the mainstay in oral health. This is because this substance has some powerful properties that enable it to fight tooth decay. It eliminates the germs that lead to tooth decay. It also acts as a protective barrier on your teeth.
Floss Regularly
A lot of people understand the importance of brushing, but they neglect to floss. There are lots of reasons why you should floss your teeth. It’s not just about removing the little pieces of stuck food. Flossing is also great for stimulating your gums. It can help to reduce plaque and alleviate gum inflammation. If you want to reap all these benefits, all you need to do is floss once a day. One thing to keep in mind when it comes to flossing is that it can be difficult, especially for kids and adults with arthritis. However, don’t let the difficulties stop you. Instead, find tools to help you floss easily. For instance, you can get some ready-to-use flossers.
Use Mouthwash
People generally ignore mouthwash because they don’t know how it works. Mouthwash benefits your dental health in three ways. It reduces the amount of acid in the oral cavity. It also helps to clean the hard-to-reach regions of your mouth, which are in and around the gums. Lastly, it helps to remineralize teeth. You can see how mouth wash is an important tool to help bring things into balance. It can also be a perfect option for those with a compromised ability to brush and floss. You can talk to your dentist about the best mouthwash to use. There are brands that are ideal for children and individuals with sensitive teeth. You can also get prescription mouthwash if you are suffering from a particular issue.
Avoid Smoking
If you want great teeth, you should stay away from smoking. Smoking greatly compromises your oral health, and in severe cases, it can make your teeth fall out. This habit has been shown to be one of the leading causes of several gum diseases globally. Smoking depletes the oxygen in the bloodstream, and the healing of gum inflammation is delayed. This is why it causes gum diseases to get worse. It has also been shown that people who smoke tend to have more dental plaque. Lastly, smoking cigarettes can stain your teeth, which is the exact opposite of what you want if you are looking to have great teeth.
Visit Your Dentist Twice a Year
A lot of people are a bit apprehensive about visiting the dentist or periodontist. This is probably due to the fear of finding out they need to have some work done. However, this fear can stop you from getting great teeth. There are several reasons why it makes sense to visit the dentist regularly. This is something that you should especially do if you are looking for ways to get great teeth.
Dentists are not only meant for emergency dental services. In fact, their main purpose is to prevent you from having oral health problems. This is where the talk about prevention being better than cure comes in. Instead of waiting for problems to show up so you can visit the dentist, you need to visit the dentist so that problems don’t show up. So, how exactly can regular dental visits enable you to have great teeth? Well, there are several ways you can benefit from having your teeth checked from time to time.
Dental Problems Are Caught Early
Dental health problems, like any other problem, start small. They then progress with time if they are unchecked until you now have to get rid of your tooth or undergo complex restorative procedures. By visiting the dentist, you will increase the chances of any dental problem being caught early. The good thing about this is that smaller problems are generally easier to address, and it’s possible to find complete solutions that make such problems go away for good.
For instance, during a visit, a dentist can discover that your gums are inflamed, which can be an early sign of gum disease. This can be easily treated, and you will be advised to observe stricter oral hygiene routines. If you don’t visit the dentist regularly, gum inflammation can progress to periodontal disease, which can’t be reversed. This is the same with problems like tooth decay and any other dental problem. Early diagnosis presents a chance to treat problems before they become complicated. Conditions like periodontal disease can greatly affect how your teeth look and function. If left unchecked, you will even end up losing your teeth.
Teeth Cleaning
Visiting the dentist regularly also helps you to get deeper cleanings. Deeper cleaning, also known as oral prophylaxis, helps to prevent cavities. It also helps to get rid of plaque on your teeth. Plaque is a sticky bacterial layer that can harden and turn into tartar over time. If these two build up on the surface of your teeth, they will cause discoloration and oral diseases. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to remove tartar at home. Dentists use special tools to do this, and the process is known as dental scaling. Check-ups also allow the dentist to examine your tongue, throat, and neck.
Invest in Cosmetic Dentistry
There are a lot of dental issues that home care alone will not be able to fix. The good thing is there are lots of dentists who can help you out. Apart from addressing dental diseases, dentists can also help to change the appearance of your teeth. Cosmetic dentistry deals with a range of issues, including discolored teeth, crooked teeth, and even missing ones. If you don’t like the way your teeth look, you can sit with your dentist and find out how they can help you get the best-looking straight teeth. Cosmetic dentistry procedures not only correct the appearance of your teeth, but they can also help you chew better.
Cosmetic Dentistry For Crooked Teeth
Some of the most common cosmetic dentistry procedures include teeth whitening, veneers, dental alignment, braces, and several others. Braces and aligners are applied to move your teeth back into their right positions. Fortunately, unlike in the past when metal braces were the only option, nowadays there are more cosmetically superior methods of aligning your teeth. If you are not happy with the way your teeth look, you’ll probably be skeptical about walking around with bulky metal braces. However, instead of those, you can get other treatments like Invisalign. Invisalign trays are perfect for dealing with crooked teeth problems. They are made using clear plastic, which makes them almost invisible.
Teeth Discoloration
Getting your dental issues corrected will give you more confidence, and it can even improve the way you speak. Apart from teeth alignment issues, another common problem is discoloration. If you have discolored teeth, you may be able to get the issue corrected through a simple whitening procedure.
However, there are certain levels of staining that are intrinsic. This means it won’t just be the surface that’s affected. Discoloration can extend deeper into the structure of the tooth. If that’s the case, having porcelain veneers applied would be the best option. These are durable, white shells that are attached to the outer surface of the teeth. The veneers can be shaped to look like your natural teeth. You can also opt for veneers if you are looking to hide gaps in teeth. This means they can help you create a more symmetrical smile.
Missing or Broken Teeth
What about badly broken teeth? Or maybe you have missing teeth. There are cosmetic dentistry procedures for this as well. One of the most common ways to fix missing tooth problems nowadays is dental implants. These are permanent replacement teeth that have a titanium root. This is as close to getting your natural teeth back as it can get. Apart from dental implants, you can also get bridges and crowns. These are porcelain structures that replace your teeth to ensure you look your best.
Make Sure You Have Dental Insurance
It’s important to ensure that you have dental insurance. This will help you cover your primary care costs. One of the reasons why people are a bit skeptical about getting dental care is how costly it can be. Fortunately, with dental health insurance, your bills will be covered, and you can visit the dentist regularly without worrying about paying too much money. Most people remember dental insurance when they face problems that require the attention of a dentist. This will not work in your favor. Most dental insurance providers have waiting periods that prevent you from submitting claims until after a certain period.
Caring for your teeth is a lifetime job. You need to ensure that you do everything you can to keep them looking clean and healthy. This is why your dentist should be your friend. Don’t wait till you have serious issues on your hands to visit the dentist. Instead, be proactive about your oral health and catch small problems before they can grow into complex ones.