SAY AHH, SMILE BRIGHTLY AND BE HAPPY
Oral hygiene also known as dental hygiene, is an aspect of
dental care that involves keeping your oral cavity clean, healthy and free from
diseases. Good oral hygiene is vital for your overall health as it can help prevent
some systemic diseases and give you healthy teeth, gums, and fresh breath.
Proper oral hygiene involves three things:
Brushing
Flossing
Routine visit to the dentist.
BRUSHING YOUR TEETH
For healthy teeth, brushing properly can not be overemphasized.
Plaque is a sticky colourless film of bacteria that forms over our teeth even
after we brush because our mouth is a harbour for various kinds of bacteria
that feed on leftover sugars and cause tooth decay in the process. That is why
regular brushing at least twice a day is encouraged. Plaque, if also left too
long, can harden and becomes calculus.
If you would brush, it is only necessary you do it right!
Here are some brushing tips to take note of.
1. Use a fluoride-containing toothpaste. This helps strengthen
the teeth and prevent tooth decay. When buying a toothpaste always check to
ensure it contains fluoride.
b. Use a medium texture brush which should be replaced at
least every 3 months.
2. Place the bristle of your brush towards the gumline at about
45° so it comes to rest slightly beneath the gum line, then gently brush using a small circular motion. Do this for some time then move to the next set of
teeth.
3. Brush the entire outer surface of the teeth and then
continue the same technique on the tongue side.
4. To brush the insides of the front teeth, hold the
toothbrush in a vertical position and use the bristles on the toe of the brush.
5. Brush the chewing surface of the molar teeth. And lastly, brush your tongue. Always remember to brush your tongue!
If you are curious like I am, you can look up the different types of brushing techniques.
FLOSSING.
Regular flossing helps you clean in between your teeth. You
can floss after brushing just to clean off debris or plaques that accumulate
between your teeth. Flossing is also advised after a meal over tooth picking as
this can injure the gum and predispose it to gum infections.
Tips for flossing.
1. Get a string of floss about 18 to 24 inches or two feet
long, and wind most of the floss around both of your middle fingers leaving a small
length of floss for your teeth.
2. Hold the floss taut with your thumbs and index fingers
and place the dental floss in between two teeth easing it gently until it
reaches the gumline. Don’t force the floss into place as can scratch or bruise
your gums.
3. As the floss reaches your gums, curve the floss at the
base of the tooth to form a C shape. This allows the floss to enter the space
between your gums and your tooth.
4. Repeat the steps as you move from tooth to tooth. With each tooth, use a new, clean section of floss.
You can easily get a floss from a pharmacy but if this is
not within reach, you can improvise using a thread but be extra careful with this. For those with joint diseases which can make it difficult to hold a
floss using both hands, do not worry there are floss that come on holders.
ROUTINE VISIT TO THE DENTIST.
Even after proper brushing and flossing, it is important
that we visit the dentist at least twice a year for checkups and professional
cleaning called scaling and Polishing (S and P for short). A lot of systemic
diseases have oral manifestations and this can be picked up first just by visiting the dentist. You can also get further advice from your dentists on how
to keep your mouth flawless.
Lastly, eat a balanced diet and limit the intake of sweets
and sodas. With all this in place, you are guaranteed the perfect smile.
