Of course, you can do a lot of preventative care in the comfort of your own home. Good dental hygiene and oral care are part of what keeps your smile as healthy and beautiful as it can be. Having the right knowledge as well as having the right tools enable you to have great oral hygiene and a beautiful smile. Below are some simple tips for good oral hygiene that can make a major difference.
Brush Your Teeth at Least Twice a Day
This is advice you’ve certainly heard many times in the past. It’s important that you brush your teeth at least twice a day. Most importantly before Ideally, you want to brush your teeth after every meal. Here is a video of Dr. Kohler showing his preferred way to put toothpaste on your teeth.
Use a Toothbrush with a Small Head
To do the job right, you need to have the right tools. When selecting a toothbrush, be sure to use one that has a small head. This will allow you to access the back of your teeth and the hard-to-reach parts of your mouth. MOTSY Light has multiple brush head attachments of varying sizes to enable you to get every corner of your mouth.
Brush Gently and Thoroughly
It’s not just that you brush that’s important but how you brush as well. Many people brush their teeth too aggressively, which can harm the gum tissue and cause bleeding gums as well as gum recession. Be sure to be gentle as well as thorough when brushing your teeth. With MOTSY Lights LED handle
Floss Your Teeth at Least Once a Night
In addition to brushing your teeth, it’s important that you floss as well. Flossing will help you remove food particles and plaque that’s lodged between your teeth and underneath the gumline. These are places that a toothbrush alone cannot clean.
Floss Gently and Be Thorough
Just like brushing your teeth, it’s important that you be gentle while flossing. Aggressive flossing can lead to bleeding gums and gum recession just like aggressive brushing can.
Do Not Use Tobacco Products
Cigars, cigarettes, and chewing tobacco are bad habits that are bad for you. They increase the risk of heart disease, lung disease, and oral cancers, and they can also lead to tooth discoloration, gum recession, and gum disease. Kick the habit to keep your smile looking great.
Avoid Sugary Snacks and Soft Drinks
You are what you eat, and that applies to your smile. Sugary snacks and soft drinks increase your risk of tooth decay and acidic dental erosion, which can weaken teeth and ruin the look of your smile. Instead, consider healthy alternatives to sugary food items, and stay hydrated with water rather than pop.
Wear Mouth and Face Protection When Applicable
If you play sports, even just recreationally as a hobby, be sure to wear proper face, head, and mouth protection. This helps prevent injuries to the teeth, tongue, and gums. You’d be surprised how few people take this advice to heart.
Visit Your Dentist Twice a Year
Seeing a dental professional every six months may not seem like much, but it makes a major difference. We can identify minor problems and treat them before they become more serious issues.
]]>It may not sound interesting on the surface, but the history of this common item dates back to the ancient world. It just goes to show how much people cared about having a beautiful smile.
Ancient Egyptian Toothpaste
The first toothpaste (used sometime between 5000 BC and 3000 BC) was a type of polishing cream. This dental cream would be applied to the teeth and removed with a rag. Common ingredients of this Ancient Egyptian toothpaste included ground eggshells, ground ox hooves, myrrh, and pumice. While it might have been effective, it probably didn’t taste all that great.
Other Toothpaste of the Ancient World
The Egyptians weren’t the only ones with a dental cream The Ancient Greeks and the Ancient Romans also had their versions of dental creams, which were perhaps inspired by the Egyptian version. These Greek and Roman dental creams probably didn’t taste good either, often containing tree bark, charcoal, oyster shells, and ground-up bones.
The Ancient Chinese had a much more fragrant and palatable dental cream that’s traced back to 500 BC. This Chinese dental cream often included ginseng or mint to improve the breath.
19th Century Tooth Powders
Many people use baking soda to brush their teeth. It’s a practice that’s hundreds of years old. Back in the 1800s, tooth powders were a common way to clean teeth. These powders were not as safe as baking soda, however. Common ingredients back then included chalk, salt, crushed brick, and charcoal, all of which could possibly harm tooth enamel and the gumline.
The Birth of Toothpaste as We Know It
Toothpaste in a recognizable form was born in the 1820s. It involved soap being added to tooth powders. Chalk would be added to this toothpaste in the 1850s. By 1873, Colgate would begin mass-producing this revolutionary toothpaste product.
The Invention of the Toothpaste Tube
We take the toothpaste tube for granted these days, but the fact is that toothpaste used to be sold in jars and boxes up until the 1880s. During that decade of the 19th century, Dr. Washington Sheffield sold his toothpaste in a convenient collapsible tube.
The 1950s: Putting Fluoride in Toothpaste
One of the last key innovations in the history of toothpaste is the addition of fluoride. Water fluoridation started in the United States during the 1940s. It makes sense that fluoride would get added to toothpaste in order to improve the strength of a person’s tooth enamel.
More Recent Toothpaste History
Since the 1950s, the key innovations in toothpaste have tended to involve cosmetics and comfort. Teeth whitening and dental bleaching ingredients have made their way into toothpaste to help brighten smiles. In addition, there are special toothpaste’s on the market that is designed for people who suffer from tooth sensitivity, as well as, toothpaste for people with periodontal disease.
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NEW VIDEO: "Placing Toothpaste on your teeth and not your toothbrush"
It's important to use a toothpaste with the right concentration of fluoride. Check the packaging to find out how much fluoride each brand contains. Dr. Kohler says in his video, he recommends Sensodyne Repair and Protect for the stannous fluoride it has as the active ingredient. What is stannous fluoride and why is it the best? Check out this video from another dental expert who gives great insight into toothpaste science!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDpDFAjPgFM
Fluoride serves not only as a threat to bacteria in the mouth but it also reinforces the enamel protecting your teeth. Plaque is a film of bacteria that coats your teeth if you don't brush them properly. It contributes to gum disease and tooth decay.
Make sure you brush every surface of all your teeth. It is really important for that toothpaste to hit every individual tooth. When the toothpaste foams up and grows in volume as you brush your teeth, it’s not cleaning as much as you think! What you’re getting in that foam is a diluted toothpaste, water, air, and saliva mixture. So, applying the toothpaste directly to every tooth in your mouth ensures that you don’t miss a spot. When it is well-applied, a pea-sized amount of toothpaste can go a long way in maintaining your oral health alongside visiting your dentist regularly.
Use the Right Tools Well
Let’s break down that phrase into its two parts: Right Tools and Well. Between acids in our foods, teeth grinding, even the abrasive properties of toothpaste itself, there is no reason for you to use a hard-bristle toothbrush. In fact a soft bristle toothbrush is best.
Sometimes that plaque along the edges really does need to get loosened up, that’s where a rubber scaler could be extremely crucial to your oral hygiene routine. MOTSY light is the perfect pack for you, because in the Personal Oral Hygiene Pack, you get all the tools you need for cleaning and strengthening your teeth and gums. MOTSY light is an easy to use at home dental cleaning kit.
If you are looking for the perfect oral hygiene pack look no further, whether you need a good dental tool for stubborn plaque removal or the best toothbrush for braces, MOTSY Light can be the right Oral Hygiene System for you. Check out our other products to see which tools might be right for you, or our other resources to get more tips for how you can up your oral health game!
Follow us on social media and YouTube or schedule an appointment at our Dental office
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-Dr. Craig S. Kohler DDS, MBA, MAGD
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