Flossing

Did you know? According to World Health Organization or WHO, 60-90% of school kids are suffering from dental cavities. This is the reason why starting early on with proper dental hygiene is critical for parents and their children.

After all, we usually take these dental habits to adulthood, and will mostly teach the same to our children. Here are some oral care mistakes that we should change and avoid:

Brushing mistakes

Brushing teeth is technically the most basic oral care thing to do. It may look simple – just pick a brush and toothpaste, and brush away. However, it’s actually more than that, and a lot of people are doing several brushing mistakes. Read on to find out some of them:

Brushing often and too soon

It’s impractical to brush teeth right after you eat. Besides, it’s damaging to the tooth enamel in the long run if you brush your teeth frequently.

Recommended brushing is at least 2 times a day, in the morning and in the evening. You don’t have to brush teeth right away after you eat. Simply rinse mouth to get rid of leftover food particles and to lessen the acidity of the food that you ate.

Not changing toothbrush

Cleaning teeth with a toothbrush will become ineffective and unhygienic after some time if you don’t change brushes regularly. Bristles will be worn down and damaged, so you won’t be able to clean your mouth and teeth effectively with your old brush. Make sure to replace brushes at least once every 2-3 months.

Brushing hard to remove teeth stains

When it comes to brushing teeth, there’s proper technique to clean our mouth thoroughly: upward-downward motion mostly, and sideways brushing in some areas.

Whenever we brush, though, a lot of us brush our teeth too hard to get rid of stains on teeth. This is actually damaging to the teeth, as the action causes the tooth enamel to erode slowly.

As your tooth enamel gets destroyed, your teeth will also be more susceptible to cavities and plaque. To get rid of the teeth stains, visit your dentist for regular check-up and cleaning.

Brushing too fast:

Running late for work or school? A lot of people settle for a very quick brushing whenever they are running out of time. The ideal duration for brushing, though, is for 2-3 minutes.

This is to brush all parts of your mouth thoroughly, including the backs of your teeth. And last but not the least, spend time on the tongue as it’s a favorite breeding ground of bacteria.

Forgetting to floss

No matter how hard or thoroughly you clean your teeth, there will always be some leftover dirt in between. Solution? Make flossing a regular part of your dental hygiene: it’s important to maintain healthy teeth and gums.

Cure over prevention

How many of you only visit the dentist when you feel there’s something wrong with your teeth? Dental emergencies and dental problems are not just the only reason we should visit a dentist regularly (once or twice yearly).

This is also critical for general prevention. Dental visits may be boring and expensive, but it pays a lot to attend regular checkups from time to time to ensure the overall health of your teeth and to address problems right away.

Ready to brush away these oral care mistakes? It’s not too late to practice good dental care habits, and don’t think it’s just about keeping teeth healthy; proper dental hygiene is also critical for your overall health.

Starting and changing now is still more important than doing it later. Enjoy being healthy.