Tips to Maintain Oral Hygiene!

Presently human dentition plays a major role in enhancing the facial aesthetics and overall personality of an individual.

Good dentition not only helps a person to chew food efficiently but also maintains the facial value and phonetics.
Nowadays I see patients coming up with a common complaint of bad breath, swollen gums, bleeding gums, food impaction between teeth, blackening and staining of teeth, sensitivity on intake of hot and cold beverages…even after brushing efficiently on a daily basis.

On this context, emphasizing on bad breath, I would like to enlighten certain tips and awareness.

Currently, our day to day eating habits of junk food, spicy food not only affects our overall health but also our oral cavity in many ways.
Not rinsing mouth after taking meals, snacks in between meals, intake of sticky food leads to food impaction in between teeth as millions of harmful bacteria reside on each and every surface of teeth.
There is ‘v-shaped’ valley like space between all teeth that provides a channel for food to flow in and out therefore accelerates in self-cleansing mechanism. When food gets lodged in these spaces for a longer period, leads to gum recession i. E, gums begin to form a pocket below the gumline trapping food.
Overtime the supporting tissues periodontium (the ligament that connects the tooth to the bone) and bone get destroyed hence the pockets deepen providing larger space to live, multiply and destroy the tooth and the surrounding tooth-supporting structures.
Hence properly brushing your teeth for 2-3 min, twice daily, plays a major role to keep your oral cavity clean and healthy.

Advice and precautions -

•  Brush your teeth using a circular motion and give back and forth strokes covering the inner-outer and chewing surface of teeth.
• Tongue scraper is equally important to remove the harmful bacteria layer that forms on the upper surface of the tongue.
• Use of interdental aids available in various sizes, shapes and designs in the form of toothbrush and floss should be routinely used in order to keep the interdental areas clean.
•  Use mouthwash as advised, as its antibacterial property helps in eliminating the toxins and harmful bacteria away.
• It is advisable not to eat or drink anything for half an hour after using a mouth rinse.
• Visit to the dentist once in every 6 months is very necessary to keep your oral cavity clean and to maintain your overall health.