The holidays are filled with family, friends, and fun. It’s a time where many people have or go to holiday parties filled with delicious foods and drinks to make your merry. Unfortunately, many of these tasty treats can be bad for your oral health when excessively eaten or drank. That’s why with the coming New Year it’s a great time to make good dental hygiene practices a part of your resolution to start the year right.
At Wood Creek Dental, our goal is to provide our patients with quality dental care for their oral health needs. However, we also aim to educate our patients so that they can take care of their teeth and gums to ensure a healthy mouth and hopefully avoid dental issues so that they can continue to enjoy a healthy, beautiful smile.
As you think about ways to take care of yourself and others in the coming year, keep dental health in mind with these daily oral hygiene tips:
- Brush two times day: It’s recommended that you use a toothbrush with soft-bristles and to brush in a circular motion along the gum line. We recommend using fluoride toothpaste that has the American Dental Association (ADA) seal of approval. Brushing after each meal also helps to remove food particles in teeth.
- Floss every day: It’s important to floss at least once a day, ideally before you go to bed. Flossing helps get rid of food between your teeth. Proper technique includes flossing up and down between teeth and down to the gums to help eliminate plaque buildup. Make sure that you do this between each tooth, especially teeth in the back of your mouth.
- Use mouthwash: Using an antibacterial mouthwash in your dental routine can help prevent tooth decay and issues with your gums.
- Healthy eating: Maintaining a healthy diet is important for your oral and overall health. Foods full of sugar and starch can stick to your teeth which produce acids that can lead to tooth decay.
- Chew gum: Chewing gum after eating meals helps promote the saliva production which washes away and neutralizes the acids in your mouth.
- Avoid tobacco products: Not only bad for your health, smoking or using chewing or smokeless tobacco can also stain your teeth and may greatly increase your risk of gum disease and oral cancer.
- Regular dental visits: We recommend seeing your dentist a minimum of two times a year to remove tartar and plaque from your teeth. These dental checkups can also help prevent any dental problems from becoming worse.
Establishing proper dental practices with your children is also important as it educates them on good hygiene that may last the rest of their life.
If you’d like to learn more about proper dental hygiene or want to schedule a dental checkup, please give one of our two dental offices a call at 864-288-5300 for our Landrum office at 864-457-3425 to schedule a consultation today. We provide services to those who live in Greenville, Simpsonville, and Landrum as well as nearby areas of South Carolina and North Carolina.
