Our daily litany since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, has been wash your hands, don’t touch your mouth, don’t touch your nose, don’t touch your eyes, disinfect and clean surfaces with an alcohol based detergent, don’t bring it close to a flame, keep a two meter distance, keep a six meter distance (so now we run to our calculators to convert from imperial to metric or vice versa) and the list of instructions, information, innuendo is endless as we are bombarded on a daily basis with a plethora of new thoughts.
Introducing Dental Hygiene.
As our regular routines, timings, schedules have been disrupted, meals have taken on a new turn. The challenge to eat healthy and balanced meals whilst battling the availability of ingredients, mobility and frustration is daunting. However regular dental hygiene should not be replaced with negligence.
10 TIPS FOR OPTIMUM DENTAL HYGIENE
Your dental hygiene starts with proper brushing. It is important to brush after breakfast in the morning, to remove plaque and bacteria that have accumulated overnight, and from your morning meal. Brush the last thing at night as the saliva in our mouth, that keeps cavity causing plaque off teeth dries up as we sleep. Make sure the bristles on your toothbrush are what your dentist has recommended for your teeth and gums.
Floss your teeth at least once a day. This keeps plaque from building up, and removes impacted food particles, particularly between your teeth where brushing cannot reach. Floss before you brush.
Rinse your mouth with an antiseptic mouth wash twice a day. If unavailable, be innovative, warm water and salt does the trick. Yay for kogra!
Limit sugary foods, avoid cavities.
Strengthen your enamel, use a fluoride toothpaste.
If possible, purchase an electric toothbrush. Electric tooth brushes have smaller heads, more efficient and effective that cup around the tooth, and are faster in cleaning the areas of the mouth where bacteria and plaque collect.
Eat your vitamins. A good diet helps maintain good strong teeth and gums.
Avoid dry mouth. Saliva is an essential defence to fight tooth decay. Chronic dry mouth may at times be a side effect of some medication. Hydrate well, making sure your daily quota of water is part of your daily routine.
Clean your tongue. Not easy. Very necessary. Halitosis, commonly referred to as bad breath, requires daily scrapping of the tongue. And hey, kick the tobacco habit.
Change your toothbrush regularly. Recommended every three months. Using an old, frayed, toothbrush is not going to help you and truly defeats the purpose.
STAY HEALTHY AND SMILE!
