Keeping Your Teeth Clean Between Cleanings: Eight Beneficial Tips

Just back from the dentist’s office after teeth cleaning and feeling the minty-fresh results in your mouth? Now that you have the results, you desired how are you going to maintain it between cleanings?

When the matter relates to dental care, it’s a lot easier to maintain a healthy mouth than to rely on your dentist to correct common dental hygiene issues for you. You may believe it is challenging to maintain the results you achieve, but in reality, it is not as difficult as you imagine. Offered on this blog are some tips that will help you to keep your teeth clean until you visit the Phoenix dentist for another cleaning in six months.

Here are eight tips that prove beneficial to keep your teeth clean:

1. Ditch Carbonated Drinks

If you favor carbonated drinks, your habit will wreak havoc with your teeth. Phosphoric and citric acids are the ingredients of carbonated beverages and erode the enamel of your teeth, making you susceptible to cavities. An occasional soda will undoubtedly feel great, but you will benefit by sticking to flavored water.

2. Reduce Sugar Intake

Reducing your sugar intake will help you to keep your teeth clean and healthy between appointments for teeth cleaning near you. Sugar is a culprit for promoting acids and causing plaque buildup. Your enamel and gums are attacked by a plaque to result in tooth decay. You don’t have to eliminate sugar altogether. Reducing the intake substantially, along with brushing and flossing after a sweet treat, will benefit your overall dental health.

3. Quit Smoking

If you are a smoker, it would be helpful to quit the habit altogether because it can undo any benefits you achieve from the cleaning process. Brookstone Dental recommends that quitting the habit is essential because cigarettes and tar in cigarettes substantially harm your gums. Plaque buildup and bacterial production also increase because of smoking making you susceptible to gum disease.

4. Use Proper Brushing Techniques

Brushing with an improper technique is similar to not brushing at all. Learn proper brushing techniques from dentistry in Phoenix, AZ, and start using circular motions with the brush’s head pointed towards your gum line. You must also brush each tooth at least 10 to 15 times.

5. Flossing

Your mouth has areas where your toothbrush cannot reach, but it does not mean you can neglect the areas until your next appointment for the cleaning. Using floss helps you to get between your teeth to remove any plaque left behind by your toothbrush. Here again, it would prove beneficial if you obtained flossing lessons from your dentist because improper flossing can result in damaged gums.

6. Don’t Be Harsh With Your Teeth

Your teeth don’t need aggressive handling when trying to clean them. Attempting to use aggressive techniques or a hard toothbrush can leave you with tooth sensitivity and may also cause gum recession. You can be gentle with the brushing, failing which brushing will become a chore you begin to detest. It can be a hindrance to your overall oral health.

7. Chew Gum

Brushing after every meal is suggested, but at times it is more challenging than done. You can keep a pack of sugar-free gum with you to freshen your breath and get rid of food particles between brushes. Saliva production increases when you chew gum and can prevent the bacteria from feeding on remnants of the food remaining in your mouth. Chewing gum can also prevent plaque buildup and dental decay.

8. Cleaning Your Teeth While Eating

Is it possible to clean your teeth even as you eat? Unbelievable as it may seem, it is indeed possible if you have crunchy vegetables and foods. Having foods like raw carrots, celery, apples, and popcorn can help cut down on plaque buildup. They are not a substitute for brushing, but if you cannot brush after a meal having these crunchy foods will enable you to keep your oral health in check.

What Happens When You Don’t Prioritize Your Dental Hygiene?

Besides receiving a mouthful from your dentist during your next visit, you could be a victim of severe consequences if you do not prioritize dental hygiene. You are leaving yourself open to cavities, gum disease, tooth loss, and overall adverse health. You undoubtedly wouldn’t want to be affected by any of these conditions merely because you don’t want to prioritize your dental hygiene, would you?