In order to help protect your teeth and oral health you will need to keep up with daily oral hygiene. Today, our Surrey dentists share some tips for brushing and flossing your teeth and talk about the importance of routine professional dental care.
Preventive hygiene plays an important role when it comes to maintaining good oral health. Routine visits to our dental office for professional cleanings should be combined with regular at-home dental care.
During your preventive care visit, your dentist will thoroughly examine each of your teeth and offer advice on how you can keep up with proper oral hygiene at home.
In this post, our Surrey dentists share some of the ideal brushing techniques and talk about how often you should be brushing your teeth.
Is there a recommended way to brush and floss your teeth?
The steps outlined below are a great base for your oral hygiene routine.
Clean each surface of each tooth, including the chewing surface, the cheek side, and the tongue side. Brush in a sweeping motion at a 45-degree angle. On upper teeth, use a downward sweeping motion. When you get to your lower teeth, use an upward sweeping motion. You will only want to brush in a back-and-forth motion on your chewing teeth.
Ideally, you should brush after each meal for 2 minutes each time (and no longer than four minutes). Wait at least 30 minutes after you eat to brush. At the very least, we recommend brushing twice per day and always before bedtime. You might want to try setting a timer to ensure your brushing routine is long enough.
Floss at least once every day, preferably before you go to bed in the evening. When you floss, you'll dislodge buildup and debris from food between your teeth in places you are unable to reach with your toothbrush. Insert the string of floss between two teeth and run it up and down the side of each, pulling it into a "c" shape in both directions. Go slowly and make sure to floss between all of your teeth.
Why are routine oral hygiene and preventive care important?
You should have a professional dental cleaning and exam performed by our dentists in Surrey every 6 months to help protect your oral health.
Your dentists will be able to help clean away all of the tartar and plaque that you are unable to clear off with regular at-home brushing and flossing. This is crucial to help prevent the buildup of cavity-causing bacteria.
Regular dental visits will also help to identify issues before they begin to cause serious harm.
Oral health problems such as cavities, gum disease, cysts, and even tumours are often not noticeable to the untrained eye (even a patient's own eye) in their early stages, so it's important to have a dental professional assess your mouth regularly.