Tips For Better Teeth
Hands down, bad teeth have to be one of the biggest turn-offs. Dentistry has come on leaps and bounds since its origins back in 7000 B.C, and it’s hard to imagine a life before toothpaste and toothbrushes existed! We have the global brand Colgate to thank for that who introduced their first mass-produced minty fresh paste back in 1873. We shiver to think about the state of the halitosis that went down prior to that, but you only have to look at old photos to see that blackened, crooked and missing teeth were very much on trend!
These days we make no excuses for poor dental hygiene and brushing twice a day is the absolute minimum requirement. If you’re not also using dental floss on a daily basis, then shame on you! If you do love a generous helping of garlic and other strong spices in your meals, then with dentistry advancements, you can even buy toothpaste for bad breath. There really is no excuse for having stained, wonky or foul smelling breath with the myriad of whitening, straightening and cleaning products that are available today on the high street and not just through your professional dental surgery.
So let’s take a look at our tips for better teeth so that you can wow your date with pearly white dazzlers and be assured that the evening will end up with more than just a peck on the cheek! It’s not rocket science, more basic hygiene, and anyone out there who follows strict grooming routines will no doubt already have their oral care down to a tee. For those of you who need to take things up a notch, let’s look at the simplest and most effective ways you can beat tooth decay and be sure of a mouth that is crying out to be kissed.
Brushing your teeth the correct way
Hands down, the best way to fight tooth decay and bad breath is to brush your teeth every day. The gold standard being twice a day, after food and preferably with an electric toothbrush if you want to be assured of the very best results. It needs to be more than just part of your regular morning routine. While manual brushing is perfectly adequate the best way to ensure that plaque is removed is to use an electric toothbrush which will eliminate 80% more plaque than a manual. While a sonic technology toothbrush might be an initial upfront investment, longer term it will pay dividends saving you on costly dentistry bills. If electric is way out of your ballpark budget wise, consider getting a much more cost effective battery operated brush head which again has advantages over a manual process.
If you don’t have a timer built into your electric toothbrush, you could be brushing for 2 minutes so you could always just set the timer on your smartphone or watch. 2 minutes is the optimum time recommended by dentists around the globe so sounds like good advice to us! You also need to adopt the correct technique too, and by that we mean angling your brush at 45-degrees then methodically working back and forth, front and back, paying equal attention to the outer and inner teeth as well as the chewing surfaces and your tongue too. Always ensure that you use a fully ADA-approved toothpaste that will help you to fight bad breath.
Give your mouth a supplementary rinse out.
You’ve all heard the saying, “wash your mouth out with soap and water,” normally in response to someone with a foul mouth! By that we don’t mean bad breath, we mean bad language! When it comes to excellent oral health though, soap and water are not required, but a mouthwash very much is! Using mouthwash is a very effective way to further improve your overall oral health and is definitely one of our top tip to better teeth. Gum health is every bit as important as the state of your teeth, and there are many types of mouthwash out there that can help to not only freshen breath and help prevent further cavities but improve gum health too.
Do the floss! No, we don’t mean the dance, but we do suggest minding the gaps.
You absolutely must take flossing seriously. Your dentist tells you every time you visit. Right? Then you go back home and forget all about it. Wrong! While you might not want to go the whole hog and invest in one of those interdental electric brushes, invest in some floss and you are investing in your gum health and ergo better teeth in the long run. Even if you’re late to the party with flossing, you absolutely will benefit from improved hygiene. It may be a little bit fiddly at first as you perfect your technique and your gums could even be a little bit tender and bleed when you first start out, but that is a surefire sign in itself that you need to be regularly flossing so take heed. All you need to do basically is break off a piece of floss around 18 inches long and wrap around a finger. Next, you need to rock the floss back and forth gently, not aggressively, over the triangle of the gum between your teeth. Curve the floss around the tooth and scrape away gently against the tooth. Repeat this process top and bottom and take extra special care to really get into those back teeth.
Go with the Pro’s.
This is something that perhaps we’re all guilty of. A trip to the Dentist has to be up there are one of the least favorite things to do but the more regularly you have check-ups and visit the hygienist, the less likely you are ever to need any significant dentistry work which will be painful and expensive. It’s a good idea to see a hygienist every six months, even if you do have your home flossing technique perfected to a tee. They will also be able to give your teeth a good old-fashioned polish to remove the months of stains that have built up from drinking coffee, red wine, smoking tobacco and eating strong colored and spicy foods like Curry’s. Let’s face it, we’re probably all guilty of at least one of those pleasures and some of us even all four! Hey, we’re not judging. Life is for a living. Just do your teeth and your breath a favor by booking in regularly with the pros. Your Dentist might have a few extra tips and tricks up his sleeve that will improve your overall daily oral hygiene routine. We’re never too old to learn a few new tricks after all.
Everything’s gonna be all white!
Who doesn’t dream of having that killer-watt celebrity white smile? If you’re taking good care of your teeth, brushing twice daily, flossing in between those gaps and making your sure visits to the hygienist are up to date then whitening your teeth will be the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of your sweet smile! Teeth whitening has become increasingly popular and no longer reserved for the stars of stage and screen. While once it was only a procedure carried out by Hollywood A-listers on account of its prohibitive cost, there are now plenty of home teeth whitening kits that are incredibly effective and deliver fantastic results for a fraction of the price that treatment with your Dentist would cost. Do your homework though and research online to ensure that the whitening kit you are investing in is safe to use and comes with a professional dentist recommendation. Don’t just take the work of the latest insta-celeb endorsing it. Make sure you know what the key ingredients are in the formulation and be aware of any potential side effects which may include teeth sensitivity. Remember that teeth whitening is purely a cosmetic treatment and in no way a substitute for any of the good hygiene tips that we’ve recommended today. Don’t be slacking on your cleaning regime. It doesn’t matter how bright and shiny your teeth are if your breath smells like a badgers lair.
If you’re a bit wonky, try out a brace. It’s never too late to play it straight.
Train tracks are no longer synonymous with teenage geeks with bad teeth and hair, their lunch stuck in the front wires, distracting from a face full of acne! These days you don’t need to look like Jaws from James Bond to fix your crooked smile. It’s one area of dentistry that seriously has come on leaps and bounds and more adults than ever before are opting to wear braces and retainers in later life. That’s thanks to amazing products like Invisalign retainers which are clear gum shields that are worn throughout the day and night entirely covering the teeth or something like Incognita, which is a discreet train track system worn behind the teeth to iron out those kinks. All you need to do is put your brace face on!
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