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• 13 Dec

Proper dental care might seem like an easy thing to accomplish on your own, but what happens when your entire family is part of the oral hygiene picture? From your dog to your partner, here are some excellent dental health tips to help you achieve good check-ups and bright smiles for your entire family.

Visit the Dentist Regularly

A great dental health tip is making sure that you schedule dentist appointments every six months. These visits are crucial to maintaining your oral health. Cleanings and scalings help clear plaque and tartar off of your teeth. Also, visiting a dentist regularly is one way to make sure that you stay on top of any situation. If there is a change in your oral health from the previous visit, it will be noticed right away. And this will give you and your dentist a chance to assess the situation and plan for any procedures if they are necessary. In addition, regular dental visits are especially important for your elementary school-age children. This is important for a couple of reasons. First of all, getting in the habit of visiting the dentist on a regular basis will help make children more comfortable about going to the dentist. Plus, if regular visits to the dentist are part of the family routine, children will most likely carry this habit with them into adulthood.

Eat Healthy Foods

Taking “care” of your teeth means more than just brushing them twice per day. The food you eat can contribute or detract from your oral health, depending on what it is. Be sure to select foods that are rich in calcium. Almonds, kale, and broccoli all have high levels of calcium which is extremely beneficial for your teeth. Avoiding sugary foods and beverages is a must! The enamel on your teeth absorbs like a sponge, and sugary foods contribute to decay. Maintaining a healthy diet is good for you in so many ways, but in particular, paying attention to your oral care with dental health tips such as this one can save you the pain and price of a root canal procedure!

Practice Good Brushing

While you can’t see the dentist every day, you can check up on your teeth right at home with good brushing habits. The brush-rinse-floss pattern is on top of the list of dental health tips to use in order to maintain good oral health. Brushing should not be too vigorous, and should never make your gums bleed. Always use a fluoride toothpaste and brush from the top down on your top teeth, and from the bottom up on your bottom teeth. The back molars are also important, so be sure every tooth has been polished with the brush. It is interesting to note that Johnson & Johnson developed a toothbrush not too long ago called the Reach toothbrush. This toothbrush was created exclusively to get all parts of each tooth clean! After brushing, rinse with a fluoride mouthwash, use dental floss, and then rinse again. (Dentists say it is also acceptable to floss first, then rinse and brush, if you prefer.)

Oral Hygiene Doesn’t Stop at Braces

Your kids will likely need braces at some point. And while straight teeth aren’t the be-all, end-all of oral health, good hygiene becomes especially important with metal in your mouth. If you’re unsure about the best oral hygiene habits for braces, make sure to ask your child’s orthodontist. And here’s one of the most frequently used oral health tips if your kids experience discomfort from their braces: a simple rinse with warm salt water is soothing and effective!

Keep Your Dental Bill Under Control

Following effective dental health tips for regular examinations and check-ups does not have to be expensive or lead to an outrageous bill. There are a few ways to make sure that your dental bill does not go sky-high. First of all, use your insurance wisely. This is especially true if you have a family. In this case, you may want to consider an upgrade to your insurance, for example, switch to an upgraded family plan. Also, be sure to shop around. Talk to other folks about their coverage, and look at different dental plans to compare pricing and what services they offer. And remember, comparative shopping usually pays off, so contact different dental offices and find out their rates. Inquire about routine dental care such as twice-a-year cleanings. But also, find out their pricing system for more complicated matters such as crowns and whitening procedures, for instance. Another idea that is gaining in popularity is the approach referred to as “outsourcing”. This point of view thinks about having cleanings done with a hygienist in one office and visiting a dentist in a separate office. It may be not only a good dental health tip but also a tip that makes taking care of your oral health more economical for you.

Be Mindful of Your Teeth

The last thing you need in addition to poor dental health is a broken tooth. Be mindful of glass bottles and other hard objects you might bring near your mouth! And remember to chomp carefully, especially on crunchy foods! If you are testing out the clam cakes to make sure they are hot enough for the family before you serve them, moderate your exuberance when you bite into it…or else you may be making an unexpected trip to your dentist, holding a plastic bag with half of your tooth in it!

Make Tooth Time Fun for Everyone

Getting your kids to brush their teeth doesn’t have to be difficult at all. It’s all in the approach! Finding a few creative ideas for making tooth time more fun is one of the best dental health tips for a lifetime of good oral health. For instance, music always makes everything more fun, so put on one of your child’s favorite tunes and brush along in time with the music. There are even musical toothbrushes available now that would definitely make brushing more fun. Also, a timer makes the brushing livelier. Or you could brush and floss during a television commercial! Another tip is to make sure that all the tools for tooth brushing time are the right size for your kids. Little hands need smaller toothbrushes, smaller tubes of toothpaste, mini flosses, smaller bottles of mouthwash and smaller cups. Make sure all the ingredients are there, and your kids have all the tools they need. In an atmosphere like this, your kids will love the fun they have at tooth time. And you will love knowing that you have set them on the right path for a future of excellent oral care!

Re-Examine Your Oral Health Routine

Could it be time for a refresh on your oral health routine? Maybe the only bathroom remodeling you need to do is on the bad habits you’ve built in there. For example, do you floss every day? Or, have you switched to a less expensive type of toothpaste or mouthwash? Instead, be sure to invest in products that contain fluoride. And to help prevent periodontal problems, be sure to examine your gums occasionally; look for discoloration, swelling, bleeding, redness, and see if they appear to be pulling away from the teeth. How is your breath? If you’re not sure that your breath is fresh and clean, try not to resort to covering it up with sugary chewing gum and breath mints. Teeth and fillings can be weakened by repeated chewing, especially if there’s sugar involved!

Don’t Forget Your Pets

Your four-legged friends need their teeth just as much as you do. Fortunately, your vet services can help you out there. Tooth brushing is an excellent way to prevent periodontal problems in your pup and also to make sure that your pet’s breath isn’t enough to make you sick. If you don’t feel comfortable brushing your furry friend’s teeth, they can offer you some great dental health tips for your pet, such as appropriate chew treats, tooth wipes, and even a professional oral cleaning from a veterinarian.

Learn Basic Treatment Methods

There are certain mouth irritations, such as canker sores, for instance, that you will be able to learn how to treat. For instance, your pharmacist will tell you that there are many causes of canker sores—from irritations to conditions such as Celiac disease. No one knows exactly what causes the canker sores, because there are so many different triggers that can cause this condition. Among them are stress, irritation from braces, a compromised immune system, high levels of stress, and even certain types of food (crunchy and acidic). However, relief is not too difficult to find. Among the dental health tips for relieving the irritation and pain of canker sores is a saltwater rinse, vitamin B12, and applying menthol oil or clove oil around the area. This provides immediate relief because it has a numbing effect on the irritation. When you can find out how to treat certainly uncomfortable, yet minor, conditions such as this, you may save yourself a lot of money and many trips to the dentist!

Don’t Let Your Guard Down!

Believe it or not, there’s even a way for you to be able to take care of your oral health while you’re sleeping or watching TV. How can you do that? Many dental professionals recommend using a mouth guard as one of the most effective dental health tips. The benefits of a mouthguard include less tooth grinding. This is very significant because tooth grinding has a detrimental effect on the enamel of the teeth. And wearing away the enamel weakens the entire tooth. Also, the mouthguard prevents helps prevent clenching of the jaw. Jaw clenching can lead to severe pain not only in the jaw but down the neck, and may even cause headaches, too. So remember, you don’t have to be a professional athlete to benefit from the protection of a mouthguard!

Watch Your Tongue!

Examination of the tongue is one of the most significant dental health tips. Every time you go for your scheduled cleaning, the hygienist and dentist should examine your tongue on the top and the bottom. They are looking for significant changes such as swellings, lesions, or other unusual developments. Your examination would also usually include feeling the glands in your neck, throat, and around the collarbone area. You should also look at your tongue periodically, and look for any changes.

Keep Up With the Times

The aging process is an inevitable part of life. And as time moves on, your teeth change, too. It’s a fact of life that as we all get older, our teeth age as well. Teeth can develop cracks and chips. Enamel can erode, and teeth can become loose. The phrase “long in the tooth” originates from aging gums pulling back from the teeth as part of the aging process, making the teeth appear longer. But the most important development in the aging process when it comes to your oral health is that nerve endings shrink with time—so the nerves that are in your teeth become smaller. As a result of this, your teeth are not as sensitive as they used to be. That’s why regular check-ups are so important. There may be decay that you don’t feel, but it is there, and it needs to be treated before it becomes infected. So make sure that even the older members of your family keep going for their dental exams every six months!

Don’t Put Off Any Work That Needs To Be Done

No one wants to hear the news from the dentist telling us there’s a “situation” that needs work. But if this happens during your next check-up, don’t panic. The first thing to do is to find out from your dentist what the procedure is and how urgent it is. If you have some work that needs to be done right away, the best dental health tips for this situation are to make sure to follow your dentist’s advice, schedule it right away, and find out the cost. Take care of the matter and be sure to find out how much of the procedure will be covered by your insurance. Of course, it would be great to put it off indefinitely! But a dental problem is the type of situation that usually only gets worse with time. If you wait and put it off, you may be setting yourself up for a very painful experience, and the procedure itself could be a lot more serious. And of course, the more complicated the procedure is, the more expensive it will be, as well. So do yourself a favor and get it over with as soon as possible.

Summary of Dental Health Tips

Good oral health is critical to good overall general health. And these dental health tips will certainly help you keep on track with your oral health as well as your health in general. A lot of them are based in pure common sense. Taking these basic steps for good oral hygiene can make a big difference for you and your family throughout your life!