Ever since the pandemic began seeing a dentist has become more complicated due to there being fewer available appointments, longer wait times, and provincial guidelines for dental clinics. If you haven’t seen your dentist for a while it’s even more important to check out these great oral hygiene tips for in-between dentist appointments.
Improve your Nutrition and Healthy Habits
You’ve probably heard that a healthy and nutrition enriched diet will give you more energy, prevent health problems and improve your overall health. A lot of people don’t realize that this also includes their oral health. Poor nutrition can lead to various dental diseases, teeth erosion/ decay, and plaque build-up.
For example, you should do your best to avoid sugary drinks that can stain your teeth or result in a build-up of plaque. Some examples may include alcohol (especially red wine), coffee, soda, tea, juice, energy drinks, and any other drink that is high in acidity which can harm tooth enamel leading to more cavities.
 A few other habits that can cause teeth staining and that are bad for your oral health are smoking cannabis or tobacco products like cigarettes. You should also be aware of how sticky sweets and sugary foods like skittles, starbursts, and jolly ranchers can get stuck inside your teeth and greatly contribute to plaque build-up.
Brush Twice a Day Including your Tongue
If you feel like you’ve heard this before it’s probably because it is consistently overlooked and requires a lot of discipline to maintain it consistently. Brushing both in the morning and at night helps you remove leftover bacteria and food that can become plaque if it sits for too long. This plaque will damage your tooth enamel eventually hardening to become tartar that traps stains within your teeth causing discolouration of your teeth. If this describes your situation you’ll want to look into professional teeth whitening in London Ontario to improve your digestive and oral health.
Finally, did you know that your tongue when not brushed consistently can lead to bad breath and tooth decay? To prevent this you’ll want to brush your tongue, use a tongue scraper to get rid of tongue bacteria, use a mouthwash with fluoride for at least 1 minute daily, and try gargling with warm salt water daily to kill bacteria in your mouth.
Remember to Floss Correctly Every Day
Flossing is one of if not the most important step in your oral health care that people skip and yet it can also be the most important. In addition to flossing being impactful when done daily it’s also important to know how to floss the right way so that you can maximize the benefits. When flossing be sure to get your floss deep in your gum pockets between each tooth root to make sure you get the full effect.
Although water picks can do a pretty good job when you are in a rush they are not a substitute for your oral health routine. Flossing can prevent a variety of periodontal diseases, fight bad breath by removing old food, fight bacteria and plaque thus reducing your risk of tooth decay. Finally, flossing can actually help prevent diseases from spreading to other areas of your body because the bacteria that aren’t removed from your gums can end up in your bloodstream. To check out our Tik Tok video on the #1 thing to do to avoid getting cavities, click here.
Conclusion (Brush Twice, Floss Once, Gargle Once, Eat Healthy Foods)
In order to maintain your dental hygiene in-between dental appointments, it is very important to improve your effectiveness in brushing your teeth, flossing, and making healthy food decisions. Every six months come back to Sbenati Dentistry and show us how great of a job you’ve done in caring for your oral health. Â
If you’d like to contact our dental clinic in London Ontario you can do so through our Request An Appointment form, by emailing us at Info@sbenatidentistry.ca, or by giving us a call at (519)-474-0220.
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