HOW TO KEEP YOUR TEETH HEALTHY?

 How to keep your teeth healthy?

Firstly  I am glad you took the initiative to help yourself take better care of your teeth. Teeth are the only permanent things in life if you take good care of it.

I would begin with the basic set of knowledge we all have. We in life get two sets of teeth like a blessing, to learn from our mistakes. That's how the natural process takes place. The first set are the milk teeth or the deciduous set of teeth, 20 in number.

These deciduous or milk teeth begin developing even before a baby is born and start erupting at 6 months of a child's age.However the permanent set of teeth start erupting from the age of 6 years and continue till your 20's.

Few things to do to help maintaining good health of your teeth are:

1. Brush twice daily

We all know it,we all have heard it,we all agree to it but how many of us actually follow it ?

In this post i'll tell you why you should be brushing twice daily and how. Most of us are wrong on the 'how' part too!

Brushing your teeth is aimed to remove the remnant of food particles which remain stuck in between your teeth. you may not see it,you may not feel it ,but its there,attracting various varieties of bacteria already present in our mouth.

brushing your teeth must be the first thing you should be doing when you wake up and the last thing to do before you sleep. 

If you sleep without brushing your teeth at night,the food you ate throughout the day is now acting as food for your little invisible enemies in your mouth.they will slowly progress feeding on them(their substrate),producing acid which will eventually harm your teeth. not only that,they start decaying your tooth,once it begins their is no stopping to it,because now you see you have a tenant living inside your teeth.you will eventually have to get rid of it by visiting your dentist.The dentist can only save the tooth by removing the part that's decayed. you will get the lost part of your tooth back. It will only be replaced by materials foreign to your body,not produced by your own body,not natural !

Coming to what method you should be following, the modified bass technique is the most adaptable for your interproximal areas,meaning the areas between your teeth. It helps cleaning the junctional areas between your gums and teeth . what you have to do is place your brush at an angle of 45 degrees at that junction and stroke downwards for upper teeth and upwards for lower teeth.

2.Flossing

There are regions of your mouth where the food particles may stuck and you cannot access those areas .For those areas we have the floss. take about 12-18 inches of the floss thread and wrap both ends of it on both of your index fingers. Now gently try to access the areas between your teeth where the toothbrush will never reach.This will help cleaning your teeth in a manner a tooth brush cannot alone. do it once you'll feel the difference and there wont be any going back.

3.Quit smoking

Smoking affects our oral cavity in thousands of ways we cannot imagine. you all must have heard about various oral cancer which is lead by tobacco use. Well not only cancer,smoking can lead to gum recession, periodontal issues,even aesthetic problems such as blackening and staining of teeth  making them non appealing.

Quitting smoking will not only have a better effect on your body system but also to the oral cavity.

4.Regular dental visits

Visiting your dentist regularly will not only save you from big surprise cavities and tooth removal but also save you from painful cavities and plaque from becoming calculus.Get your appointments from beforehand and check 1 day prior to your appointment for the confirmation of the same. Be in touch with the consultant and take necessary advises whenever you have doubts about the abnormalities you feel in your mouth,be it in your tongue,gums,insides of cheeks or teeth.

5. Mouthwashes

Use of chlorhexidine mouthwashes can enhance your teeth cleaning procedure and help you maintain a healthy set of teeth for the longest of time. but one must not start using mouthwashes just as their own conveniences. 

one must consult the dentist before doing so and also should get an idea or about how much time should he/she continue using it. mouthwashes are also associated with teeth staining. blackish sometimes brownish on the teeth or tongue too.

6. Tooth extraction

When would you know whether is the right time to get rid of the tooth that has been troubling you since so long ? You wouldn't know.

The thing is dentists will advice x-rays called (IOPAR= Intra Oral Periapical Radiograph) which helps them see the complete picture of the issue whats been bothering your tooth. it can either be a periapical radiolucency,periodontal pocket ,pus accumulation,cyst formation,fracture of tooth,concussion,obstruction,necrosis,ankylosis etc. There can be n number of reasons for the pain or discomfort one feels during chewing food or randomly any time of the day. you need to go through the proper procedure for the diagnosis of the issue . first the problem needs to be understood and then the decision will be made by the dentist regarding what procedure can have the best possible prognosis for your particular condition.

Now to answer to  weather tooth extraction is better than the preventive treatments aimed to save the existing tooth,the answer is always no. Nothing is better than the natural tooth itself. the procedures for preventive treatments can be slightly expensive but that's the price you'll have to pay if you don't make an effort to keep your teeth healthy.

7. Have  a balanced diet

Fast foods are the easiest food to swallow. all taste and no health. For a momentarily brief  satisfaction, one is ready to give it all ,money time energy health even ready to lose their teeth.

Having a balanced diet will help you lead a happy fulfilled and life which is content but also will help you maintain your teeth for a good span of time. Have more of fresh vegetables and fruits ,stuffs which are crunchy like capsicum,salads too are beneficial.  o not rely on the ready to eat food items. 

8. Have more water mouth rinses

One of the rarest things people don't know about is how to rinse your mouth and when. Rinse your mouth every time you're done eating. You cannot brush your teeth after every meal,this is an alternative. But do not think that you will only do water mouth rinses all day and not brush your teeth . 

9.Limit your carbohydrate intake

Carbohydrates are sugar. They are complex glucose molecules bound together which is a sugar. the bacteria inside your mouth already has the capability to feed on the sugar of your food and produce acid. if you provide them with sugar already in your diet,the job is easier for them . Avoid sticky food items like bread,chips etc. They form a substrate platform on the occlusal table (chewing flat surface) of your teeth for your bacteria to rest.

10. Avoid acidic drinks

Acidic beverages  are corroding in nature to your teeth. there are internal forces causing the wearing out of teeth like the acidic bile that returns in the mouth and there are external sources of acid like beverages and coldrinks which cause erosion of the tooth surface chemically.