Preventive Dentistry: How to Maintain Healthy Teeth by Meredi Wagner-Hoehn

It’s easy to let oral hygiene slide. With a swipe of a toothbrush, your teeth FEEL clean, so why bother taking 5 minutes and flossing, to boot? Unfortunately, your tongue can’t feel the bacteria taking over. That bacteria, given time, can cause gum disease. Gum disease is the leading cause of adult tooth loss, and the cost of dental implants isn’t cheap. Here are some preventive dentistry techniques to keep your mouth looking and feeling great.

Brush Your Teeth. Dentists suggest people brush their teeth every time they eat. Considering the majority of the population in San Antonio goes to work every day, that’s difficult to accomplish. Even if you’re a stay-at-home mom, you could easily be out of the house doing errands along Culebra Road and running the kids around for 8 hours straight. Carrying a toothbrush and mini-toothpaste with you helps. It only takes a few minutes to brush your teeth; with a whole hour for lunch, taking a few moments to run into the bathroom, tidy up and brush your teeth before going back to the office will make a big difference in your dental health.

Floss. Cosmetic dentists encourage patients to floss every day, if not after every meal. Coordinate flossing with a daily habit to make it less arduous. Do it right before bed, or when you brush your teeth in the morning. This makes it automatic and thus, less difficult.

Make That 6-Month Teeth Cleaning Appointment. It’s easy to believe that if you’re brushing and flossing, you’re doing your job. But the job doesn’t stop there. A professional teeth cleaning once every 6 months creates healthy teeth and healthy gums, more than any normal brushing or flossing can do.

Don’t Put Off Oral Problems. If your preventative dentist says your wisdom teeth are ready to be removed, make the appointment at your San Antonio dental clinic; don’t wait until it starts hurting. If your child’s teeth grew in crooked, talk to your children’s dentist about Invisalign® (invisible braces). Attending your 6-month teeth cleaning consistently will help to catch these issues before they flare up. Your San Antonio aesthetic dentist will notice things with their trained eye which you may have missed.

For more information about how preventive dentistry can help your oral health issues, call your San Antonio cosmetic dentist at Culebra North Dental Care today to schedule your free consultation.