As prices of everything from autos to eggs to healthcare increases, I can’t help but think of how much you decrease your dental care costs by taking care of your teeth and gums. It takes 3-5 minutes per day to clean your teeth with a toothbrush, floss and/or a water flosser (Waterpik).
Here are some tips to increase your daily compliance and effectiveness:
- Wait 15-30 minutes after you last eat at night and then clean your teeth.
- If you wait to brush and floss until right before bedtime, you will often be too tired and skip it. Every time you skip a 24-hour period without removing the plaque (bacterial coating) from your teeth, that coating calcifies and becomes calculus (tartar).
- You cannot remove it at home, so now it is doing its “dirty work” (producing acids and toxins) until we remove it for you. The longer it remains, the more serious the gum and tooth problems become.
- Always floss or waterfloss before brushing.
- There is a great new toothpaste available only in dental offices that has better fluoride uptake than typical OTC toothpaste. It is also less expensive to use than buying bulk toothpaste at Costco. BETTER AND LESS EXPENSIVE!
- Toothbrush bristles are designed to clean with their tips. When you brush with so much pressure that the bristles splay out, they start to abraid away the gums and cause the recession that can be so uncomfortable to cold, sweets, and even brushing.
If you incorporate this into your daily routine, you will decrease bad breath and, more importantly, dramatically lower your chances of developing life-threatening, systemic diseases such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes and certain cancers.
AND IT SAVES A LOT OF MONEY!!!
For more tips or to schedule an appointment in Blaine, MN, call Northpointe Dental Care at 763-200-5807. You can also .
