Healthy Teeth: 9 Simple Tips To Brush And Floss The Right Way

Everyone wants to have healthy teeth, but very few make an effort to go the extra mile and adopt dental hygiene habits on a day to day basis. But the good part about all this is you can actually start practicing good dental hygiene today.

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All it takes are nine of the following tips:

Use proper brushing technique

This is considered as the most common way of keeping your teeth clean. But the funny part is people may have been brushing their teeth in the wrong way all along. When brushing your teeth, the bristles of your toothbrush should be in contact with your gum line and tooth surface at an angle of 45 degrees.

You have to be gentle to avoid hurting your gums. It's best if you use an up-and-down and back-and-forth motion. Make sure that you brush both the outer and inner surface of your teeth. Your tongue and the roof of your mouth should also be brushed to get rid of bacteria that cause bad breath. If you can't brush your teeth after every meal you take, at least, brush it twice a day.

Brush at the right time

Knowing when to brush your teeth is as important as brushing itself. Expert dentists advise that you brush your teeth twice a day, regularly floss and use mouthwash. Brushing your teeth should be part of the morning and evening routine. After having a meal, you should wait at least 30 minutes to brush the teeth. Otherwise, the acid can damage the tooth surface.

Floss properly

There are certain areas and spaces in between your teeth that cannot be thoroughly cleaned using a toothbrush. This is where flossing comes in. If you're able to floss properly, you can get rid of the food debris that might have been caught in between your teeth after eating something. The habit of flossing should be an everyday thing –at least once a day.

Choosing the right brush

Today, the market has so many shapes, sizes and styles of toothbrushes, so deciding which kind to buy can be so confusing at times. Expert dentists recommend that you go for a soft-bristled brush –as it can help remove plaque and debris from your teeth. Those small-headed brushes are also preferable because they can better reach all areas of the mouth that are hard-to-reach using big-headed toothbrushes.

Clean your toothbrush

Yes, we always clean our mouths every day. But it is not often that we think of cleaning our toothbrushes. Cleaning your toothbrush is an extremely important task –one that is as necessary as brushing your teeth. The good part is there are many easy ways to disinfect a toothbrush. The first one is to place your toothbrush in the silverware tray and run the dishwasher as normal. Or you can just place your toothbrush in boiling water for about 2-3 minutes –this will help you kill germs that might have accumulated around the bristles. Or you can simply place your toothbrush in vinegar and baking soda for about 30 minutes.

Change your toothbrush

Many dental experts recommend changing your toothbrush every 3 months or sooner if the bristles are frayed. That's because, no matter what kind of a toothbrush you use, its bristles can become frayed and this causes the brush to lose its effectiveness. There are dozens of clinical researches that show that a new toothbrush can remove more plaque than one that's old.

The truth of the matter is: toothbrush bristles do not kill any bacteria in the mouth, protect you against germs/diseases or prevent you from getting sick. So it is highly recommended that you change your brush regularly for maximum effectiveness and to practice diligent hygiene, despite the type of toothbrush you're using.

Use a mouthwash

This is also an effective way of maintaining dental hygiene. Before you buy any mouthwash, make sure that it contains chlorine dioxide or Listerine –these two substances can help maintain strong teeth and kill germs that cause bad breath. If you are not flossing, properly brushing your teeth, eating well and visiting your dentist, you really can’t expect mouthwash to do all the heavy lifting and help you have great dental hygiene. Mouthwash is just an icing on the cake that will help improve your dental health.

Clean your tongue

Cleaning your tongue with either a tongue scraper, mouthwash or the back of your toothbrush every day promotes fresh breath naturally, plaque buildup, eliminates the white coating that can build up on the tongue, and can strengthen the taste buds.

Avoid snacking before bedtime

Snacking before bedtime can cause tooth decay –this is irregardless of the type of food eaten. This is because eating before bed will leave food debris stuck in between your teeth and that's allowing acids, and biofilm to be more aggressive than during daylight hours. As time goes on, all of this leads to cavities on the teeth because the teeth are not being cleaned after the midnight snack.

Visit Istanbul Dental Center

If you’re still facing problems after following the above tips, you can visit expert dentists at Istanbul Dental Center. Sometimes you don't even have to wait for a toothache or to see some blood come out of your gums when brushing your teeth. It is extremely important to visit dentists for regular dental checkups. Besides having a team of expert dentists, Istanbul Dental Center is an advanced dental clinic that uses computerized equipment to identify some dental problems that you never saw coming.

This content is edited by Flymedi Medical Editors in Feburary 2020