Treatment Spectrum
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Preventive Dental Care
Dental Care Tips
When you consider the high cost of poor Dental Hygiene, including cavities, fillings, or a root canal, it makes much more sense to follow basic dental care and hygiene tips and keeps your teeth healthy.
Preventative care, including basic brushing and flossing, sealant, and regular visits to the dentist every six months, is much less expensive than having to pay to fix cavities.
Dental Tips
- Have a dental checkup at LEAST EVERY 6 MONTHS.
- Brush at least twice a day with soft toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste.
- Use floss every day.
- Use a interdental brush daily
- Use an anti-microbial mouth rinse to control gingivitis.
- Use a topical application of fluoride for dry mouth
- If your gums bleed when you brush or eat see your dentist
Smoking makes your gums worse, quit.
People with diabetes get gum disease more often.
- Gum infections make it hard to control blood sugar.
- Once a gum infection starts it takes a long time to heal it.
- If the infection is severe, you can loose your teeth.
Natural teeth help you chew foods better and easier than dentures.
- Check the fit of your dentures yearly to prevent sores.
- Brushing Tips
- Use a soft bristled brush, preferably one with rounded, synthetic bristles.
- Replace your toothbrush approximately every two to three months or as soon as the bristles are worn or bent. A worn-out toothbrush does not clean your teeth properly, and may actually injure your gums.
- You should also replace your toothbrush after you've had a cold.
- Be sure your brush is the right size (in general, smaller is better than larger).
- Place the bristles at a 45-degree angle to the gum line, and slide the tips of the brush under the gums.
- Gently jiggle the bristles or move it in small circles over the tooth and gums.
- Brush the outside, the inside, and the chewing surfaces of your teeth. For chewing surfaces, use a light back and forth motion.
- For the front teeth, brush the inside surfaces of the upper and lower jaws: Tilt your brush vertically and make several strokes up and down with the front part of the brush over the teeth and gum tissues.
- Brushing your tongue will help freshen your breath. Debris and bacteria can collect on your tongue and cause bad breath.
- Since your toothbrush will only clean one or two teeth at a time, change its position to clean each tooth properly.
- Brush at least once every day, preferably at bedtime. Adding a brush time after breakfast increases your chances of thorough daily plaque removal.
- Don't brush your teeth too vigorously, and don't use a hard bristled toothbrush, since it causes the gums to recede and exposes root surfaces. It also wears down the tooth structure. Both of these conditions can lead to tooth sensitivity.
- A pea-sized amount of fluoridated toothpaste is sufficient.
- Replace your brush when the bristles begin to spread, as a worn out toothbrush will not properly clean your teeth.
Flossing Tips
- Wrap about 18 inches of floss around the middle fingers of your hands.
- Hold the floss tightly, using your thumbs and forefingers, and gently guide it between your teeth.
- Don't "snap" the floss as this can cut the gums!
- When the floss reaches the gum line, curve it into a C-shape against one tooth and gently slide it into the space between the gum and the tooth until you feel pressure against the tooth.
- Gently scrape the side of the tooth with the floss.
- Repeat this method on all your teeth.
- Move to a clean area of floss after one or two teeth.
Dental care - tips if teeth are knocked out
- If permanent teeth are knocked out, there is an excellent chance that they will survive if they are immediately placed back in the tooth socket and dental advice is sought straight away. Every minute the tooth is out of the socket, the less chance it has of surviving.
- First aid for permanent teeth knocked out -
- Handle the tooth by the crown not the root.
- Gently rinse the tooth in milk or normal saline solution if it has debris on it. Rinse for a few seconds only.
- Replace the tooth in its socket, if the person is conscious - make sure it is facing the right way around.
- Hold the tooth in place with some foil or by getting the victim to gently bite on a handkerchief.
- Contact your dentist immediately.
- If you can't put the tooth in its socket Wrap it in glad wrap or store it in milk or normal saline solution.
- Do not try and clean the tooth with vigorous scrubbing or cleaning agents.
- You should not attempt to put a milk tooth back in its socket as it may fuse to the socket, which leads to difficulties when it is time for the tooth to be shed. It may damage the permanent tooth underneath the socket.
Child Care - Dental Tips
- BRUSHING TIPS
- Start brushing your child's teeth as soon as they come in.
- Brush your child's teeth for the first 4 to 5 years until your child seems able to do it alone.
- A good teaching method is to have your child brush in the morning and you brush at night until your child masters the skill.
- FLOSSING TIPS
- Start flossing your child's teeth as soon as they touch each other.
- DIET TIPS
- Avoid high-sugar foods, especially sticky, sweet foods like taffy and raisins. The longer sugar stays in touch with your teeth, the more damage it can do. Don't snack before bedtime. Food is more likely to cause cavities at night because saliva doesn't clean the mouth as well at night.
- Cheeses, peanuts, yogurt, milk and sugar-free gum are good for your teeth. They can help clear the mouth of harmful sugars and reduce plaque formation.
- OTHER - If your local water supply does not contain enough fluoride, your child may need a fluoride supplement.
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