A pretty smile can elevate one’s look but great dental health is essential to achieve this. Regular teeth cleaning is the best way to ensure that your teeth are in optimum health.
Neglecting your teeth and overall oral hygiene can cause conditions such as Gingivitis which includes gum inflammation as well as cavities, it can also cause tooth decay and discoloration, ruining the appearance of your teeth.
Follow this blog until the end to find out all the steps involved in a proper dental cleaning routine to get pearly white teeth that are in the best of health.
Signs You Have Poor Oral Hygiene
Ensuring that taking care of your oral hygiene is essential to maintaining healthy gums and teeth. Poor oral hygiene can be detrimental to one’s teeth as it can cause tooth decay, regular mouth sores, bad breath, bleeding gums, and even loosening teeth.
Teeth Cleaning At Home
Having a proper teeth cleaning routine at home can do a lot to ensure your teeth are in excellent condition. Here are some of the ways you can care for your teeth.
Brush Your Teeth Daily
Brush your teeth every day and twice a day. Make sure you are gentle with your teeth and don’t use a toothbrush with hard bristles. Additionally, make sure you brush every part of the teeth to prevent any plaque buildup.
Brushing the Tongue
The best way to fight the odor in your mouth is to brush your tongue as well when you brush your teeth. As we eat during the day, our tongue also gets build-up which can cause bad breath. You can buy a tongue scraper or just use your toothbrush to brush your tongue.
Teeth Cleaning Products
When buying your toothpaste, make sure you get one that has fluoride as it helps to eliminate chances of developing cavities and strengthens the tooth enamel.
Incorporate flossing into your daily teeth-cleaning process. When we brush, we still can’t clean between our teeth and this is where flossing comes in. It prevents food from getting trapped between your teeth and causing cavities.
And finally, use a mouthwash that is anti-bacterial to help combat bacteria, and make sure you don’t get gum disease. Additionally, it helps with keeping your breath fresh.
Try Natural Teeth Cleaning
For natural teeth cleaning, you can try oil pulling. It is a traditional method that originated in ancient times. It includes putting about a tablespoon of coconut oil and moving the oil all over the inside of your mouth for about a couple of minutes, making sure it comes into contact with all your teeth.
Once you have done this for about 15 minutes, you can then spit the oil out but make sure not to spit it out in your sink as it can clog your pipes.
Give Up Smoking
Smoking won’t just cause your teeth to discolor but it will also put you at a higher risk of gum disease, boost plaque build-up in the teeth, and increase your risk of mouth cancer in the long run.
Teeth Cleaning Procedures
There are 4 types of teeth cleaning procedures that dentists perform. However, the dentist will choose a type depending on the state of your gums and teeth to fulfill the needs of your oral health.
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Prophylaxis Cleaning
This type of procedure involves a routine cleaning of the teeth as a preventative measure against disease and gum infections and is done for people who have good oral health.
Since the purpose of this procedure is to properly clean the gums and teeth, it includes x-rays, dental exams, brushing, flossing, polishing, etc.
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Scaling and Root Planing
This procedure involves an in-depth cleaning and includes scraping and scaling to get rid of tartar underneath the gumline. This is followed by root planing to smoothen the roots of the teeth for better attachment to the gum.
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Full Mouth Debridement
Full Mouth Debridement is for patients who don’t pay attention to their oral hygiene and don’t get regular check-ups with the dentist. These types of patients typically have a lot of plaque and tartar which is why they require intensive cleaning.
Compared to standard cleaning types, this procedure is much more invasive and may involve the use of ultrasonic tools to tackle extreme plaque deposits.
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Periodontal Maintenance
Periodontal Maintenance is a procedure that is typically done on patients with periodontal disease to tackle plaque and tartar in the gums and prevent bacteria from thriving. This procedure targets the roots of the teeth to make sure they don’t loosen due to disease. Furthermore, the Periodontal Maintenance procedure is required to be done multiple times a year to eliminate the chances of any gum disease coming back.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Browse through our list of frequently asked questions to get more useful details on dental cleaning.
Q1. How important is flossing for dental hygiene?
Flossing regularly is one of the most effective ways to eliminate plaque, which can otherwise leave your teeth looking discolored. It is a key part of teeth cleaning as it can help you lessen your chances of getting cavities, maintain gum health, and eliminate any chances of developing gingivitis.
Q2. Can poor dental hygiene lead to health issues in the long run?
When your dental hygiene isn’t very good, it causes bacteria to thrive and cause gum inflammation, tooth decay, etc. If left unchecked, this bacteria can affect the rest of the body by becoming part of the bloodstream and causing diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc.
Q3. Can my diet affect my teeth?
A healthy diet loaded with essential vitamins and minerals will help protect the health of your teeth and gums. On the other hand, poor food choices such as junk food and sugary, carbonated drinks will lead to the erosion of the teeth, as well as staining.
Q4. Are routine dental exams necessary?
Getting a routine dental exam can be the best thing for your oral health as the dentist inspects the state of teeth and gums as well as doing dental X-rays to catch any signs of potential dental problems and provide the required treatment.
