Do you want to keep your naturally beautiful smile with you forever? Do you want to hold onto your real teeth until the grave? Do you want to avoid oral disease and keep the rest of your body healthy while you do it? Are you getting to the age where you fee like you don’t want to deal with the hassle of more dental problems? If you answered yes to any of those questions, keep reading.
Preventative dentistry is talked about a lot during our childhood but we tend to forget as we get older and have encountered various oral problems. For a lot of people, experiencing just one oral problem is enough to convince them that they can no longer practice preventative dentistry. Not only is this untrue, but preventative dentistry is perhaps the most important tactic to employ as you age. Instead of talking about restorative dentistry as we age, let’s take a look at preventative dentistry and find out how we can prevent the problems before they even occur!
Your mouth is constantly put in a precarious position. We use our mouth on a daily basis to eat, smile, laugh, talk and make various facial expressions. Considering our mouth is such an important part of our body, it’s amazing how much we tend to neglect our oral hygiene. What we eat and drink but also how we take care of our mouth play huge rolls in keeping healthy teeth and gums. As we age, effective plaque removal is at the root of preventative dentistry.
Here are some great ways to get rid of plaque:
1. BRUSHING:
This one is blatantly obvious but often we either neglect to brush or we brush improperly. Brushing is the single most important part of maintaining your oral health as you age. Brushing correctly is an entirely different story though. Most people understand the need to brush their teeth on a regular basis but some do not realize how to properly rid their mouth of plaque. Typically a gentle circular motion is the most effective.
2. ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSHES:
Electric toothbrushes could be a lifesaver for us as we age. We tend to get less enthusiastic about the effort it takes to brush our teeth and an electric toothbrush can save you a lot of grief.
3. TOOTHPASTE:
Selecting the right toothpaste can be an integral part of keeping your teeth and gums healthy. Toothpastes containing fluoride are usually the best choice because they help to strengthen the enamel of your teeth and prevent cavities.
4. DENTAL FLOSS:
Flossing is also an essential part of creating a healthy oral environment. However, flossing is a rather monotonous task and as you age, you may want to look into purchasing an automatic flosser.
5. DENTURES:
Some of us have run into oral problems in our lives and some of them might have been severe enough where we have lost our teeth. If you have full or partial dentures, you need to clean them after every meal to remove food. Once daily, dentures should be cleaned thoroughly and allowed to soak overnight. Dentures always need to be rinsed before getting placed in your mouth.