5 Tips to Follow to Achieve a Healthier Smile

If you visit the dentist regularly, you may get overwhelmed with some of the information you hear. We repeat ourselves a lot on any given day, always addressing the best ways to brush and floss your teeth. Having great oral health goes much deeper than remembering to brush and floss your teeth every day.

So today, we want to share some of our favorite dental tips. If you follow these five dental tips, you can increase the likelihood of maintaining a healthy mouth for the rest of your life.

Here’s our list:

1. Floss should be part of your dental routine. Again with the floss? Absolutely! If you brush twice a day, that’s great, but you still need to floss. Consider this fact: About 65 percent of the tooth is above the surface. That means that about 35 percent of your tooth lies below the gumline. The best way to clean the root of the tooth is to floss. If you skip out on flossing, you increase your risk of tooth decay or gum disease. Gum disease is the number one cause of tooth loss in adults, and it’s a problem that has been linked to serious medical issues like heart disease and even diabetes.

2. Change out your toothbrush often. You can’t change a tire with a warped tire iron, so it stands to reason that you can’t clean your teeth without a proper toothbrush. This is one area that my patients often miss the mark. They use the same toothbrush until the bristles are frayed and warped. If your toothbrush looks like this, consider swapping it out. The American Dental Association recommends that people change out their toothbrush once every three to four months. We’ll also give you a free toothbrush after every dental cleaning.

3. Brush your teeth twice a day for 2 minutes at a time. This is a tip that a majority of you probably do not follow, even if you brush twice a day. A recent study found that people spend less than one minute brushing their teeth every day. That’s not enough time to clean your mouth. Dentists agree that you can clean your mouth thoroughly with a 2-minute brushing. To reach this goal, set a timer on your phone or download a dental app — there are several. While brushing, focus on different quadrants of the mouth, giving each one equal cleaning time.

4. Have a dental emergency plan. Your dental treatment isn’t complete without a dental plan in place. That means having a plan whenever you need immediate assistance or in the event you or a loved one struggles with dental trauma. With dental injuries or trauma, time is always ticking, so you have to act quickly. Without a good dental plan, you waste valuable time searching for an emergency dentist to fulfill your needs.

5. Don’t ignore dry mouth. Dry mouth is a problem that can increase your risk of cavities or gum disease. Saliva is so important because it helps reduce the levels of bacteria and flush food debris from your teeth. In many cases, dry mouth will limit the patient’s ability to eat certain foods and consume certain drinks. Patients with dry mouth can even have difficulty sleeping.

These are five dental tips that I believe everyone needs to follow. Start using these tips in your daily dental routine, and you will see great results. If you’d like to speak with us about your oral health or need to schedule a visits, you can reach the St. John dental office at 219-322-9920 or the Valparaiso office at 219-462-1970.