Oral Hygiene Care
Maintaining good oral hygiene is one of the most important things you can do for your teeth and gums. Healthy teeth not only enable you to look and feel good, they make it possible to eat and speak properly. Good oral health is important to your overall well-being.
Daily preventive care, including proper brushing and flossing, will help stop problems before they develop.
In between regular visits to the dentist, there are simple steps that each of us can take to greatly decrease the risk of developing tooth decay, gum disease and other dental problems. These include:
- Brush thoroughly twice a day and floss daily
- Eat a balanced diet and limit snacks between meals
- Use dental products that contain fluoride, including toothpaste
- Rinse with a fluoride mouth rinse if your dentist advises you to
- Make sure that your children under 12 drink fluoridated water or take a fluoride supplement if they live in a non-fluoridated area
These good oral health tactics will not just keep your teeth clean, but will help protect your gums and your entire mouth. This is important, considering that almost half of adults over the age of 30 have gum disease.
Further preventive measures can be taken with dental sealants. Sealants are a simple, painless treatment to fill in narrow grooves in a tooth that cannot be properly cleaned by brushing.
