|
Dentist Blog
|
June 9, 2008
Do you take special care of your gums and teeth? Do you follow your dentist’s suggestions and dental care reminders? Do you follow the recommended annual visits to the dentist? Are you keen in keeping your dental health at its best? Providing proper teeth and gum care are important. Here are some tips to follow in order to keep your oral health at its optimum level.1. Your dentist and dental hygienist can provide you the best education on how to properly take care of you teeth and gums. Follow the tooth brushing techniques and proper oral care advices given by your dental health professionals. Avoid rushing when brushing your teeth. Provide at least 3 minutes of your time to thoroughly clean your teeth. Take enough time to reach all the dental surfaces including those hard to reach areas and the back teeth.2. Your brush should be held at a 45-degree angle to your gums. This will enable the tips of the bristles to point to the gumline. Gently move your brush in very short strokes in a back and forth motion.3. You should not take for granted the inner surfaces of your teeth even if these are not readily visible when you smile or open your mouth. Brush thoroughly both the inner and outer surfaces of your teeth as well as the grinding and incising surfaces.4. It is also advisable to brush your tongue gently. Our tongue usually harbors bacteria and minute food debris left during mastication, which can cause bad breath.5. It is also important to floss your teeth at least twice a day or after every meal as much as possible to remove trapped food particles in between the teeth that may cause bad breath and may become a bacterial breading ground.Today there are a lot of types of dental floss coming out in the market. Choose the product that you feel most comfortable with and that doesn’t cut or hurt your gums.Here are some useful steps to follow on how to floss correctly:a. Use at least 18 inches of dental floss and wind it around the middle finger of each hand. Hold it between your thumb and forefingers and leave about an inch of dental floss. Gently slip it in between your teeth in a sawing motion. Be careful not to snap or jerk the floss into the gums.b. Curve the dental floss into a C shape when it reaches the gumline then slide it gently up the gum. Be careful not to press too hard, you don’t want to cut your gum in the process.c. The floss should be held against the tooth and perform a scraping motion along the side of the tooth. This should be done gently and moving the dental floss away from the gums. Follow this procedure until you reach the backside of the last tooth.d. Bleeding gums may occur during the first 5 or 6 days after you start flossing. If beyond this period bleeding still occurs, you need to call and inform your dentist about it. You may not be doing the right thing and in the process hurting your gums.Properly taking care of your oral health will provide you a good and healthy oral environment, which will give you a healthy, beautiful smile and increase your self confidence.Michael Russell Your Independent Dental guide
forresstanford » Blog Archive » How To Take Care Of Your Teeth For A Healthy Smile
May 7, 2008
Sports or “high energy” drinks can wreak havoc on your teeth because they’re high in sugar and have the highest “mean buffering capacity,” which means they can severely erode your enamel. Here are nine more things that keep dentists in business, according to the Chicago Dental Society. It’s missing just one thing: tobacco.
1. Potato chips. When you eat starches, including pretzels and pasta, enzymes in your saliva break the food into simple sugars, feeding the bacteria that cause tooth decay.
2. Peppermints. Sucking on sugary hard candies all day puts your teeth under constant attack by tooth-decay-causing bacteria.
3. Cough drops. Gram for gram, some cough drops have as much — if not more — sugar as chocolate. The same is true for other “medicinal” products, such as antacids and breath mints.
4. Soda. If you want to feed the bacteria in your mouth, drink soda. It’s just loaded with sugar and flavor additives, and the acids — found in diet sodas too — can destroy tooth enamel.
5. Bottled water. Not all dentists sing the praises of fluoride, but the ADA stresses the decay-preventing benefits. Most bottled waters don’t have it and most home water-filtration systems remove all fluoride.
6. Coffee drinks. Whipped cream, chocolate sauce and flavor syrups are loaded with sugar. A small caramel macchiato, for example, has more sugar than a Snickers candy bar.
7. Juice. Even unsweetened juices contain naturally occurring sugar; an 8-ounce glass of orange juice contains about 30 grams of sugar. The same size serving of Mountain Dew contains 31 grams of sugar.
8. Fruit leathers and roll-ups. Made from sweetened fruit purees, these sticky snacks are essentially candy. Bits stick to teeth, leaving your teeth susceptible to decay.
9. Gum. Sugary chewing gum puts your teeth under prolonged attack, but don’t rule out gum altogether. Xylitol, a sugar substitute in some gums, has been shown to help prevent tooth decay.
Julie’s Health Club - Where alternative and mainstream health meet | Chicago Tribune | Blog | Blogroll
February 14, 2008
by Anne Kelly
Twice a day Karen Redman flosses her teeth to protect not only her gums, but also her heart.
Becoming a more faithful flosser was the Liberal party whip’s New Year’s resolution for 2007, even though she doesn’t have gum disease or risk factors for heart disease. The Kitchener Centre MP stepped up her routine from every day or so to twice daily after learning of an association between plaque in the mouth and the plaque involved in coronary artery disease.
“I was watching a news show on television about the fact that flossing had a connection with heart health and the plaque on your teeth,” Redman said in an interview.
“I had always viewed flossing as something you did for the health of your gums. So for me, it was a real revelation to realize there were other implications that may, in the long run, have a greater impact.”
People with serious gum disease have higher levels of certain types of bacteria in their mouths. Researchers suspect the bacteria may travel through the bloodstream to the coronary arteries, causing inflammation which eventually leads to plaque buildup and narrowing of the arteries.
Another theory is that high bacterial levels in the mouth may lead to a chronic increase in the immune system response, which helps fight infection, but also involves inflammation.
Link
(more…)
|
