Oral health is as important as our over-all health. One cannot ignore it, as it has its implications throughout our physical health and in most cases, also our confidence.
Oral health includes healthy teeth, gums, and no bad odour. The gums are pink and the teeth are free of debris. Healthy teeth, not only helps keep our confidence good, but also helps in proper chewing the food and speak properly. Daily care like brushing and flossing, and rinsing will help halt various oral problems before they even start developing.
For proper oral care, do ensure you keep visiting your dentist twice annually. They will help point out the areas that need a bit more TLC and will suggest ways to take care of problems, if any.
Regular care includes:
Brushing thoroughly twice a day and flossing before bed-time
Eating a balanced diet and limiting snacks between meals
Using fluorinated dental products
Rinsing with a fluoride mouth rinse
How to brush your teeth:
1.Tilt the brush at 45° against the gum line and sweep or roll the brush away from the gum line.
2.Gently brush the entire crevice of the tooth using short back-and-forth strokes.
3.Gently brush your tongue or scratch your tongue cleaner to scrape bacteria and freshen your breath.
4.Be sure to floss beneath the gum line, but avoid cutting the gums.
5.Rinse thoroughly with water and then rinse with a mouth rinse.
When out-side, and you cannot brush your teeth, it is important to still care for your oral hygiene. Keep drinking water at regular intervals- as it is important to let your mouth go dry.
As the acid levels, if and when high, it starts decaying your tooth. So, how to avoid the decay? By ensuring that the mouth produce enough saliva that will help in restricting the plaque formation.
This, you can achieve by chewing gum- sugar free gum, specifically. Sugar-free gum does not have any sugar in it, the sweet taste is due to sugar substitute, xylitol therefore the gum does not cause tooth decay. Dental erosion is caused by the acids in the food and beverages that we consume- which start eating the enamel and then starts removing some of the minerals that make up the enamel. Chewing sugar-free gum helps in reducing this acid attack. It takes about 1 hour for the saliva to replace the minerals lost in acid attack, while chewing sugar-free gum after eating increases the flow of saliva thereby helping in maintaining the pH pH ,the measure of acidity, are bad if it is below 5.5, while chewing sugar-free gum can quickly lower the amount of acid that helps protect the teeth.
So, go on and keep maintaining your oral hygiene in the best way possible. Do NOT ignore any symptoms of distress, inflammation, gum pains and/ or bleeding.
By:Archa Dave
