What is Oral Hygiene?

I have never met a person who enjoyed going to the dentist even if it’s just for a routinely check up. So what do you do to avoid visiting those much dreaded clinics and have a healthy mouth?

In simple words oral hygiene is the practice of keeping the teeth and mouth (including the tongue) in top condition to prevent bad breath and dental complications. Teeth that are clean, gums that are pink and don’t bleed or hurt when you brush are signs that you are providing yourself good oral hygiene.

Oral hygiene is important to everyone and should be practiced daily no matter what is your age or your lifestyle. Healthy teeth can help you look and feel good. It also helps you in speaking properly and making it possible to eat all kinds of food with no problems.

The steps to obtain a good oral hygiene are simple but unfortunately unknown to some people. Below you can find a list of some of the basic things you can do to help achieve a healthy looking mouth.

Teeth Cleaning

Each time you brush your teeth you are removing dental plaque and tartar and this helps in preventing cavities, gum disease and gingivitis. It is recommended that you brush your teeth twice a day and professionally cleaned twice per year. Professional cleaning is a non-painful procedure that includes tooth scaling, polishing and removal of tartar. Most times this is followed by a fluoride treatment in both adults and children.

Flossing

How many people floss these days? Some people say it’s a waste of time. They are failing to see that flossing is an important step towards oral hygiene. Flossing helps removing plaque and the food that remains between the teeth. This food decay often causes irritation to your gums. Flossing is usually recommended before bedtime. Parents can help young children learn how to properly floss or the parents can do it themselves if the children are too young.

Interdental Brushing

This is an alternative to dental flossing. Nowadays it is getting more popular and much preferred than flossing. It is gentler to gums and there are different sizes of brushes available.

Oral Irrigation

Oral irrigators are a great way to reach what tooth brushes and floss can’t reach but one should know that the jet stream is actually not strong enough to remove tartar and plaque. Oral irrigators will only give you a feeling of freshness but is actually not removing all the bacteria and plaque.

Food

Food can damage our gums and mouth overall but it can also help it. Some foods can also protect against cavities. Water is rich in fluoride and fluoride is known to help teeth. Using fluoride toothpaste is usually not enough so drinking milk and eating cheese (unless you are lactose intolerant) will also help since those two things are rich in phosphate and calcium.

As we all know smoking severely damages our mouth but for those people who can’t quit mouth rinsing is recommended. These days you can find mouth wash that is specifically for smokers.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_hygiene

http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/OC/Information/OralHealthBasics/GoodOralHygiene/OralHygieneBasics/WhatisGoodOralHygiene.cvsp

http://www.yourdentistryguide.com/hygiene/