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Hint: Try taking your time. Most people tend to rush it.
Hint: Use toothpaste about the size of a pea. Covering the whole brush with toothpaste is a thing from toothpaste commercials and it is good marketing but doing it will only fill your mouth with excessive amounts of foam which is hard to wash off completely.
Some dentists advise brushing your teeth after every meal or snack you take. We consider this extreme and impracticable in our busy lives. Two times – after waking up and before going to bed – is enough if you do it right. Throughout the day drinking water and/or chewing gum will do.
It is essential that you find your balance. Overdo it and care for your teeth turns into an excruciating ritual. Skip it and your visits to the dentist’s office will become more frequent. Skip these and your eventual problems and dental bill will skyrocket.
If you need any special toothpaste, your dentist will tell you.
Hint: Some whitening toothpastes contain abrasive elements that may cause more harm to your teeth enamel than good.
Hint: Ask your dentist whether you need a special toothbrush.
Hint: Tearing or shredding (apart from that caused by too much pressure) floss may indicate the presence of a hidden tooth cavity.
Note: Flossing cannot replace brushing but it nicely builds on it.
Hint: It is not the choice of floss (toothpaste or toothbrush) that matters, but how you use it.
Note: Mouthwash can be a nice addition to the dental products you use and it freshens your breath, but it cannot replace brushing and flossing.
Note: Bad breath may be an early sign of a dental problem. If it persists even when you are maintaining high oral hygiene, you should consult a dentist.
Hint: If bad breath is the result of eating smelly foods (garlic, onions) or drinking alcohol, brushing your teeth, chewing gum and using mouthwash will only alleviate the problem but won’t solve it, because the source of the smell is in your stomach.
Hint: Something chewing gum advertisements won’t tell you is that the main benefit of chewing gum is increased salivation, which normalizes mouth pH (acidity) and thus, the risk of cavities. Choosing chewing gum is just a matter of taste as long as it is sugar-free.
Hint: Most chewing gums contain sorbitol (a sweetener) which has a laxative effect.
Note: Extended chewing of gum (more than 5-10min at a time) can cause demineralization of your teeth which reduces their hardness. Constant chewing (of gum or else) wears out your temporomandibular joint (where your lower jaw attaches to the skull).
Note: In some cases, the vacuum created when chewing gum can cause your fillings and other dental restorations (crowns, bridges, etc.) to come loose.
If you want to keep your teeth white and in top shape, apart from maintaining high oral hygiene, you need to visit the dentist’s office for your regular dental check-ups. Your dentist will advise when you need teeth whitening or scaling and root planing.