Dental Common Sense

Brushing

Don’t scrub; be gentle yet thorough - the food is not baked on.

Spend 2 minutes brushing away food and applying fluoride toothpaste. Use a soft brush

I recommend you use an electric toothbrush with a 2-minute timer (Braun/Oral B).

If you have persistent gum disease and can’t floss effectively, consider interdental brushes (Piksters), (or a visit to the specialist - periodontist)

Flossing

Floss your teeth at least 3-4 times per week, ideally every day, last thing at night.

Floss only the ones that you want to keep.

Do both sides of each tooth and go under the gum

Bleeding means floss more often!

If you have crowns and/or bridges you must floss them

Rinsing-Don’t rinse after brushing just spit out as much as you can and let the fluoride sit on your teeth.

Diet

Frequency of sugar is much worse than volume of sugar. Every time you eat/drink something with sugars in it (that means just about everything except water, cheese and sugar free chewing gum) the plaque on your teeth will convert this to acid for the next 20 minutes.

Small nibbles / sips often through the day are worse for your teeth than gluttony (greed is good!)

Non-Foods that don't go near your teeth

No cello tape, thread, fingernails, plastic etc. These create extreme forces on the four front teeth and they will fracture in the future. NB. Minties are not a food.

Water

Less saliva flow means more acidic conditions leading to tooth decay and bad breath.

Smoking

Do I have to spell out tooth staining, bad breath, gum disease and oral cancer?