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Oral Hygiene Services at Heritage Dental
Family Dentist in Pottstown PA
Oral hygiene means regularly brushing your teeth and cleaning between your teeth to keep your teeth and gums healthy. This helps to prevent tooth decay and gum disease.
What is good oral hygiene?
Regular teeth brushing and cleaning between teeth helps to keep your teeth and gums healthy. These also help to prevent tooth decay and gum disease.
Other things that may help include:
- Mouthwashes.
- Dental floss or interdental brushes.
- Tongue cleaning.
- Eating a healthy diet, which includes limiting sugary drinks and foods.
- If you smoke, stopping smoking.
- Having a dental check-up twice a year.
What’s the best way to brush your teeth?
- Teeth should be brushed twice a day, once just before bed and once first thing in the morning, before you have had anything to eat or drink.
- Do not brush your teeth within thirty minutes of eating or drinking, particularly if you have eaten something sweet, as the brushing can rub the remains of the food into your teeth, rather than removing it.
- Use a soft toothbrush. The hard bristles of a firm toothbrush can damage gums.
- Apply a small amount of a fluoride-containing toothpaste to your toothbrush and brush in a circular motion for two minutes.
- Spit out the toothpaste but do not wash out your mouth with water, because the toothpaste which stays in contact with your teeth provides protection for several hours after you have brushed your teeth.
Sweet things should be eaten only at mealtimes. Chemicals in the saliva help to deal with any sugary residue and acid on your teeth. It takes about an hour after eating for the acidity in your mouth to return to normal, so if you are eating sweets and sweet snacks between meals your mouth may not get much chance to recover.
Children should be taught good oral hygiene as young as possible. Teeth can be brushed with a soft brush and a small amount of toothpaste twice a day as soon as they appear.
Have regular dental checks twice a year. A dentist can detect a build-up of plaque and remove tartar (calculus). Early or mild gingivitis can be detected and treated to prevent the more severe periodontitis. A dentist can also advise about special coating of children’s teeth to help prevent tooth decay.