When we’re young, we don’t really appreciate the importance of oral hygiene. Perhaps not until we reach teenage years and start noticing that members of the opposite sex won’t go near us because we have bad breath, or that we start wearing mouthguards whilst playing sports do we first start to understand the importance of looking after our mouths!
However, taking good care of our teeth and mouths is something that needs to be ingrained in our conscience from a very young age. Parents need to bring their children up so that brushing their teeth twice a day, once in the morning before going to school and once at night before going to bed, is as normal as walking, breathing, eating etc. They then need to be encouraged to use dental floss regularly, to use mouth wash after brushing, and to make regular visits to the dentist.
Why? Well regular teeth cleaning removes plaque and tartar from teeth, which helps to prevent gum disease which causes at least one-third of tooth loss in adults. We all know people with either false teeth or no teeth at all, which makes them look far older than they actually are.
Plaque is a yellow sticky film on teeth and gums. The bacteria in it changes carbohydrates in the food you eat into acid which erodes your teeth and leads to you having cavities and thus fillings. It irritates gums, making them bleed easily and pull away from the teeth, which creates cavities for bacteria to fill. This in term causes the bones around the teeth to be eroded, causing gum disease. Eating the right food and not eating snacks helps to combat this, as does making sure you brush your gums as well as your teeth.
Whilst the message about brushing twice daily seems to be getting through, flossing probably hasn’t as much. Yet flossing is vital, as it removes the decaying food and the plaque from between the teeth, which brushing often doesn’t do as the gap between teeth is so tight. It is recommended that you floss once a day BEFORE brushing to allow fluoride toothpaste better access between teeth.
It is also extremely important to clean your tongue – again, something that isn’t as often thought about as tooth cleaning. This removes the coating of bacteria from your tongue which causes bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease.
The key aim is to make sure demineralisation of the teeth doesn’t exceed remineralisation. Plaque and tartar increases demineralisation, so the above steps are essential to combat it, but eating the right foods is also important. Whilst fluoride in toothpaste helps, milk and cheese are rich in calcium to strengthen your teeth, and fibre rich foods and sugar free gum increase the flow of saliva for remineralisation. Green tea, fruit and veg and sesame seeds are also good. Crisps and chips, sugar, fruit juice, vinegar and sweets are all bad for oral hygiene. Smoking is also bad for teeth.
An argument often heard is that oral hygiene is some sort of new phenomenon, and that it is all a money making scam from dentists and oral hygiene companies. The truth is that oral hygiene goes back beyond the beginning of recorded history, with excavations all over the world showing that sticks, twigs, bird feathers, animal bones and porcupine quills have been used as prototype toothbrushes, and looking after your mouth from a young age is far more cost effective than having to deal with gum disease and other oral problems when you’re older.
However, taking good care of our teeth and mouths is something that needs to be ingrained in our conscience from a very young age. Parents need to bring their children up so that brushing their teeth twice a day, once in the morning before going to school and once at night before going to bed, is as normal as walking, breathing, eating etc. They then need to be encouraged to use dental floss regularly, to use mouth wash after brushing, and to make regular visits to the dentist.
Why? Well regular teeth cleaning removes plaque and tartar from teeth, which helps to prevent gum disease which causes at least one-third of tooth loss in adults. We all know people with either false teeth or no teeth at all, which makes them look far older than they actually are.
Plaque is a yellow sticky film on teeth and gums. The bacteria in it changes carbohydrates in the food you eat into acid which erodes your teeth and leads to you having cavities and thus fillings. It irritates gums, making them bleed easily and pull away from the teeth, which creates cavities for bacteria to fill. This in term causes the bones around the teeth to be eroded, causing gum disease. Eating the right food and not eating snacks helps to combat this, as does making sure you brush your gums as well as your teeth.
Whilst the message about brushing twice daily seems to be getting through, flossing probably hasn’t as much. Yet flossing is vital, as it removes the decaying food and the plaque from between the teeth, which brushing often doesn’t do as the gap between teeth is so tight. It is recommended that you floss once a day BEFORE brushing to allow fluoride toothpaste better access between teeth.
It is also extremely important to clean your tongue – again, something that isn’t as often thought about as tooth cleaning. This removes the coating of bacteria from your tongue which causes bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease.
The key aim is to make sure demineralisation of the teeth doesn’t exceed remineralisation. Plaque and tartar increases demineralisation, so the above steps are essential to combat it, but eating the right foods is also important. Whilst fluoride in toothpaste helps, milk and cheese are rich in calcium to strengthen your teeth, and fibre rich foods and sugar free gum increase the flow of saliva for remineralisation. Green tea, fruit and veg and sesame seeds are also good. Crisps and chips, sugar, fruit juice, vinegar and sweets are all bad for oral hygiene. Smoking is also bad for teeth.
An argument often heard is that oral hygiene is some sort of new phenomenon, and that it is all a money making scam from dentists and oral hygiene companies. The truth is that oral hygiene goes back beyond the beginning of recorded history, with excavations all over the world showing that sticks, twigs, bird feathers, animal bones and porcupine quills have been used as prototype toothbrushes, and looking after your mouth from a young age is far more cost effective than having to deal with gum disease and other oral problems when you’re older.
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